With Boardwalk Empire entering its final season, Martin Scorsese isn't done with TV and HBO just yet. Together with Mick Jagger - yes, that Mick Jagger - he's come up with a new show for HBO based on an original idea by Jagger. The as-yet-untitled drama will be set in the music business during the 1970's and focuses on a fictitious record company headed by Boardwalk Empire's Bobby Cannavale.
The cast so far looks pretty incredible. Olivia Wilde and Juno Temple were confirmed back when the show was initially announced. Just recently, The Sopranos' Max Casella and Hunger Games' Jack Quaid - son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan - have been announced. Terence Winter will be writing the script for the first episode whilst Scorsese will be in the director's chair.
Although this isn't the first time Scorsese's done TV work, it's not the first time he's done work that focused on music of the 1970's. If anything, he's a part of that era. The legendary director was responsible for The Last Waltz, the final live performance of seminal rock group The Band. Not only that, he directed 2008's Shine A Light, a music documentary based on The Rolling Stones' "A Bigger Bang Tour".
As mentioned, the story will focus on Bobby Canavale's record company, but also takes in the wider music scene of the era. Punk, arena rock and disco were prevalent during the time period and a new genre called hip-hop was brewing on the streets. Scorsese's got an amazing ear for music in his films, almost becoming a second dialogue so for him to make something like this is just fantastic.
No word on an airdate yet as but we're very, very excited about this one.
Any excuse to play The Band, really.
