Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio appear to be continuing their ongoing relationship, this time for a prequel series to "Shutter Island" on HBO.
Based on Dennis Lehane's 2003 book that was made into the 2010 film, the series is going to be a prequel wherein the solitary mental hospital Ashecliffe will be examined. The new series is going to tackle the hospital's creepy past and the wrongdoings of its founders. The working title for the show as of right now is "Ashecliffe," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film was a gripping story of two U.S. Marshals, played by DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, who report to the remote island of the Massachusetts coast to investigate the disappearance of a murderer from the Ashecliffe hospital for the criminally insane.
Scorsese is planning on directing the pilot, just like he did for "Boardwalk Empire." HBO is currently in the early stages of developing the prequel series based on the property. Providing the screenplay for the pilot will be Dennis Lehane along with Tom Bernardo.
It looks like Paramount TV is continuing to explore the studio's library of films. Recently, the studio received a "straight-to-series" order at Nickelodeon for a live-action version of the Jack Black film "School of Rock." You may remember that Paramount tried to return to TV production with 2013's "Beverly Hills Cop" pilot, which tanked and never made it to network. The studio is also looking into some of its classics like "Ghost," "Terminator" and "The Truman Show" to send to television.
While "Shutter Island" was not a huge box office hit, "Ashecliffe" is set up to succeed with Scorsese's name attached to the project. There is no word yet on when the show will debut, but the winning combination of Scorsese and DiCaprio is one that has worked very well in the past. With this show's pedigree, this new project may mean HBO will have another hit on its hands.
