The Oscar-winning drama movie about the complexities of ethnic and racial tolerance in Los Angeles has been picked up by Starz network to be made into a 13-episode, one-hour original drama series.
- Jan 29, 2008
AceShowbiz - The 2005 Academy Award-winning drama "Crash" is going to be brought to the small screen. On Monday, January 28, the pay cable channel, Starz network, announced that the racially charged film will be coming to television this year as a 13-episode, one-hour original drama series.
On the production team for the television series, it was said that the film's key members, Paul Haggis, Bobby Moresco, Bob Yari, Don Cheadle, Mark R. Harris and Tom Nunan, will team up once again for the series. On the returning of the original behind-the-scene team, the network's executive vice president Stephan Shelanksi commented, "The fact that key members of the film's production team are involved will ensure that our series maintains the high level of talent and creativity captured in the film."
On the matter of casting, Reuters reported that Shelanski has noted that there is a "strong possibility" that Cheadle will be joining the series' cast playing back his role as a police detective. Further, the vice president confessed that the network have been talking about the possibility the original cast members reprising their characters. He said, "We're just going to rely on the strength of the material and the relationship that Don Cheadle and Paul Haggis had to get the original cast involved. We're talking to everybody. We would love to have as many of the cast members from this film as possible reprise their roles."
On the other hand, the Lionsgate's president of programming and production Kevin Beggs believed that none of the major characters from the movie are likely to make it to the series. He further explained, "We'll use the style of storytelling from the movie, but there'll be new characters and new stories to get into the subjects of race and class, and the bigotry that's simmering under the skin of a city like Los Angeles."
The big screen version of the Lionsgate Films' drama explores through a series of connected storylines and characters. The relatively small-budget film features Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Thandie Newton and Ryan Phillippe.
With the picking up to the small screen, "Crash" will be the second Oscar-winning film following 1967's "In the Heat of the Night" to be made into a television series. Additionally, the series will start its principal photography in Spring and is scheduled to premiere as early as August 2008. In general, it will pick up where the film left off.
