This… is… genius?
Two horror icons, legendary each for their own reasons, working together on a television project for Media Rights Capital (THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: DEAD MAN STALKING, TED, ELYSIUM)? Yep, definitely genius. Especially since the body horror and harshly grim nature of the subject matter fits right into what David Cronenberg and Sam Raimi are both ultimately best known for.
Based on the biography THE KNIFE MAN by Wendy Moore, the series will be “about the trials and triumphs of a radical, self-educated surgeon, delivering a visceral portrait of the extraordinary and unorthodox lengths he will go to uncover the secrets of the human body.”
The first scripts of the series are being written by Rolin Jones, an Emmy-nominated scribe for such shows as “Weeds” and “Friday Night Lights,” with Raimi onboard as Executive Producer and Cronenberg both producing and directing the pilot episode. No production start date has been set yet, though that may have something to do with casting still being wholly up in the air. Definitely more as we hear it.
Here’s a longer synopsis/description provided by the author herself: From humble Scottish origins, John Hunter rose to become the most famous anatomist and surgeon of the eighteenth century. In an age when operations were crude, extremely painful and often fatal, Hunter rejected medieval traditions based on ancient Greek Orthodoxy to forge a revolution in surgery founded on pioneering scientific experiments… Although a central figure of the Enlightenment, revered by fellow scientists and friendly with high society, Hunter’s tireless quest for human corpses immersed him deep in the sinister world of body-snatching. He paid exorbitant sums for stolen cadavers, stalked interesting specimens and even managed to steal the body of Charles Byrne, better known as the “Irish giant.”
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