Nearly a year after the project was first announced to be in development at the streaming service, Hulu’s The Girl from Plainville starring Elle Fanning (The Great) has landed Emmy winner Lisa Cholodenko (Unbelievable) to helm the first two episodes of the true crime drama, which is expected to begin production later this year, according to Deadline.
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This marks Cholodenko’s latest TV directorial project after directing the first three episodes of Netflix’s acclaimed limited series Unbelievable and HBO’s 2014 Olive Kitteridge miniseries, for which she was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for Limited Series. As for the film side, Cholodenko is best known for writing and directing the 2010 dramedy The Kids Are All Right, which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay with co-writer Stuart Blumberg.
Based on Jesse Baron’s Esquire article of the same name, The Girl from Plainville tells the real-life story of a young woman from Massachusetts named Michelle Carter, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2017 in a “texting-suicide” case. The series will chronicle the relationship between Carter and her then boyfriend Conrad Roy III as well as the events that led to his death and her controversial conviction.
The series will be executive produced by Golden Globe nominee Liz Hannah (The Post) and Patrick Macmanus (Dr. Death), who are also set to serve as co-showrunners. It will also be executive produced by Fanning and Echo Lake’s Brittany Kahan, with Universal Studio Group’s Universal Content Productions acting as home base for the project. Baron and Erin Lee Carr, director of the HBO documentary exploring the case I Love You, Now Die, as consulting producers for the series.
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Fanning first partnered with Hulu for Oscar nominee Tony McNamara (The Favourite)’s historical dramedy The Great which received rave reviews for its first season. Because of the, the series scored a 10-episode second season which is currently in production. Season 1 also nabbed a few nominations from the Emmys including Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series as well as Golden Globe nominations for Best Comedy Series, Best Actor in a Comedy Series and Best Actress in a Comedy Series.
(Photo Credit: Jemal Countess/Getty Images)
