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Andy Serkis, Greg Berlanti Team for Oliver Sacks TV Show 'Wolf' at NBC – The Hollywood Reporter
May
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‘Wolf’ is inspired by the author and famed neurologist’s life and books ‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat’ and ‘An Anthropologist on Mars.’
By Lesley Goldberg
Television Editor, West Coast
How’s this for an unlikely pairing: Andy Serkis and Greg Berlanti are teaming to bring the life and work of famed neurologist Oliver Sacks to NBC.
The broadcast network has handed out a pilot order for Wolf, a drama that is inspired by Sacks’ life and books The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist on Mars.
Michael Grassi, who previously worked on Berlanti Productions’ Riverdale, Katy Keene and Supergirl, will pen the script for the drama pilot and exec produce alongside Lee Toland Krieger. The latter will direct the pilot. Berlanti Productions partner Sarah Schechter and head of TV Leigh London Redman will exec produce for the company. Fabel Entertainment’s Henrik Bastin and Melissa Aouate will exec produce. Serkis and his The Imaginarium banner’s Jonathan Cavendish and Will Tennant will also exec produce for the company.
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The project had been in the works since early 2018 when Serkis teamed with Fabrik to develop the pair of books by the “poet laureate of contemporary medicine,” as Sacks was dubbed by the New York Times.
Wolf is inspired by the life and work of the best-selling author, who passed in 2015, and revolves around a revolutionary, larger-than-life neurologist and his team of interns as they explore the last great frontier, the human mind, while also grappling with their own relationships and mental health.
Sacks’ book Awakenings was also developed into a feature film, the Oscar-nominated 1990 pic starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. NBC also developed a drama script around his life in 2013 with Glenn Gordon Caron and Michael London that never moved forward.
For Wolf, the pilot order marks an important off-network sale for Warner Bros. Television. The Warner Bros. Discovery-backed studio has overall deals with Berlanti, Grassi and Krieger.
This is NBC’s latest pilot order of the season and joins Murder by the Book, the drama from Good Girls creator that has Retta attached to star.
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