murphy and paulson give me hope here. this is really coming out of nowhere for me, and i hope it's something i didn't know i needed.Deadline wrote:Ryan Murphy’s Nurse Ratched ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ Origin Series Starring Sarah Paulson Scores Netflix Order; Michael Douglas EPs
EXCLUSIVE: In very competitive situation, Netflix has landed Ratched, a marquee new drama series from Ryan Murphy, with Sarah Paulson set to star as a younger version of the diabolical Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and the film’s producer Michael Douglas set to executive produce alongside Murphy. In one of the biggest deals of the year, which I hear followed a bidding war among Netflix, Hulu and Apple, Ratched scored a two-season, 18-episode, straight-to-series order at Netflix. Production on the drama, from Fox 21 TV Studios, is slated to begin sometime in mid-2018, with Murphy directing the opening episode as he does on all of his series.
Like he has done before, Emmy winner Murphy is taking a chance on a newcomer writer with Ratched. The project was created by Evan Romansky who, fresh out of film school, penned the script on spec. It was slipped to Murphy by CAA agent Joe Cohen. Murphy took it in, attached one of his muses, Emmy-winning American Horror Story and American Crime Story star Sarah Paulson, to play the title character and spent a year securing the rights to the character and the participation of the Saul Zaentz estate and Douglas.
Ratched is an origins story, beginning in 1947, which will follow Ratched’s (Paulson) journey and evolution from nurse to full-fledged monster. The series will track her murderous progression through the mental health care system.
Executive producing Ratched are Murphy, Douglas, as well as Aleen Keshishian, Margaret Riley and Jacob Epstein of Lighthouse Management & Media, which manages Romansky. They are joined by Romansky, who will co-executive produce. Paulson will be a producer alongside Paul Zaentz of the Saul Zaentz Company, which owns the rights to the Cuckoo’s Nest feature. Fox 21 is the studio, producing via Murphy’s 20th Century Fox TV overall deal.
Douglas and Paul Zaentz’s late uncle, Saul Zaentz, produced the classic 1976 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest movie, winning together a Best Picture Oscar in 1976. The film, based on Ken Kesey’s novel, introduced audiences to the character of Nurse Ratched, who instantly became one of the most mythical pop culture villains of all time. Ratched was played in the movie by Louise Fletcher who won a Best Actress Academy Award for the role, one of five Oscars for Cuckoo’s Nest, along with Best Picture, Best Director (Milos Forman), Best Actor (Jack Nicholson) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman).
Ratched marks Murphy’s first streaming series. It brings the prolific producer’s portfolio to six on-air series, joining his Fox and FX stable of shows American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Pose, Feud and 911.
It also makes for a Hollywood fairytale story for Romansky, a first-time writer whose script became a big package and landed a two-season order.
Paulson, coming off an Emmy win for Murphy’s The People Vs OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, returns to his American Horror Story franchise with a starring role in the Cult installment, which premiered last night. She will segue to Ratched after filming the lead in the Katrina installment of American Crime Story, based on the book Five Days at Memorial, in the spring. She also has three high profile movies coming up, including the star-studded Ocean’s Eight and Steven Spielberg’s The Post.
The origin story of another famous film villain, Psycho‘s Norman Bates, was recently explored in the well-received A&E series Bates Motel.
Murphy, Paulson and Romansky are repped by CAA. Douglas is with UTA
Re: Ratched [Cuckoo's Nest prequel series]
2Yeah, I don't know that I've been clamoring for the backstory for Nurse Ratched. I think it's pretty evident that she's a case of power corrupting. But I'll still give it a shot to see if they do something interesting with it.
Just cut them up like regular chickens
Re: Ratched [Cuckoo's Nest prequel series]
4WTF was that? I don't think they quite understand the character or her motivations. But what the hell, I'll give it a watch anyway, just thinking of it as something new instead.
Just cut them up like regular chickens
Re: Ratched [Cuckoo's Nest prequel series]
5watched the first 3 or 4 so far. there really is no connection, other than her, to the film. it's set in a completely different place, 16 years earlier. interesting back story on her, but it really just makes the whole thing feel like AHS Asylum, pt 2. lots of other AHS actors in it, too. that's not a bad thing, i'm just wondering why not call this literally anything else if there is no tie to the movie/book. funding? i don't know. maybe eventually there will be some ties. i'll keep watching.
Re: Ratched [Cuckoo's Nest prequel series]
6this did not get better. it got really old. it progressed and ended exactly like any other AHS series. what an unnecessary show that no one asked for. and AHS 1980 was great. i don't know why this was done.
Re: Ratched [Cuckoo's Nest prequel series]
7meant to add, gratuitous overuse of the Cape Fear score in this show makes it even more inexplicable. stay away.