Weinstein Television has announced the acquisition of Guantanamo, a multi-season dramatic series that brings three-time Academy Award winner Oliver Stone for the first time as a director to scripted television. A home for the series is currently being sought.
Created by Daniel Voll (The Unit), the series will focus on the detainees held in the world’s most controversial prison, and those who defend and condemn them. Alexandra Milchan (The Wolf of Wall Street) will produce with Weinstein Television. Stone plans to direct all of season one.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to work with Oliver,” Harvey Weinstein said. “I’m a longtime fan and he’s one of our greatest filmmakers of all time. This is explosive material that will work from all sides. Daniel Voll’s incredible resume will make this amazing collaboration between him and Oliver both newsworthy and super watchable.”
Voll added, “Oliver and I are excited about creating an immersive, highly cinematic series, filled with twists and turns, that explores the dark side of how America prosecutes its war on terror.”
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp was opened after the September 11th attacks to interrogate and imprison suspects in the war on terror. Human rights organizations condemn the treatment, including various forms of torture, of the 780 prisoners held at Guantanamo. In 2009, President Obama vowed to close the camp, but was met with opposition. The camp remains open with 41 prisoners today.
The multi-perspective series, in the vein of Traffic and A Few Good Man, is based in part on Voll’s first-hand research and will provide an inside, never-before-seen look into the darkest corners of Guantanamo. The series will not only tell the story of the detainees, but will follow the lives of the soldiers, judges, lawyers, doctors, journalists and other civilians on the remote military base, which has the surprising feel of an all-American small town.
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