Ewan McGregor Joins Chris Cooper And Dianne Wiest In Noah Baumbach’s HBO Pilot ‘The Corrections’
Hollywood’s had a long history with botched adaptations of beloved novels, but from here it looks like fans ofJonathan Franzen’s acclaimed bookThe Correctionshave nothing to worry about. After years of attempting to bring the story to the big screen, producerScott Rudineventually turned to HBO — and things have been shaping up nicely from there.
The Squid and the Whalewriter-directorNoah Baumbachsigned onto helm and (with Franzen) pen the drama pilot earlier this fall, whileChris CooperandDianne Wiestjoined the projectseveral weeks later. NowEwan McGregorhas boarded the series as well, in the role of Cooper and Wiest’s screwup middle child. More details after the jump.
McEwan has been cast as Chip Lambert, a Marxist academic who’s fired from his tenure-track university position after engaging in an affair with a student. Adrift, he eventually falls into a new job working for a Lithuanian crime boss defrauding American investors. Like Franzen’s other characters, Chip is undeniably troubled and often unlikeable, yet he managers to retain the reader’s sympathies throughout. As one of those actors you can’t help but root for, even when he’s playing nasty or desperate, the charming McEwan seems like an ideal choice for the part.
The Correctionsmarks a rare TV gig for McEwan, who started out doing television in the early ’90s but has been working almost exclusively in film ever since. He recently starred on the silver screen opposite Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent, and averycute Jack Russell terrier in Mike Mills’Beginners, and will next appear in Steven Soderbergh’sHaywireand Bryan Singer’sJack the Giant Killer.
Major roles still remaining to be cast forThe Correctionsinclude those of eldest son Gary, a depressed banker and family man, and baby of the family Denise, an unlucky-in-love chef. Given the talent already on board, I’ve no doubt the HBO pilot will continue to attract other exceptional actors.
