You are viewing the archive: “Michael Mayer”

Michael Mayer To Direct NBC’s ‘Hatfields & McCoys’ Pilot Produced By Charlize Theron

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 1, 2013 @ 7:09am PSTTags: Michael Mayer
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Two years ago Michael Mayer was a stage director who was about to try his hand at TV directing with a Broadway-themed drama pilot, NBC’s Smash. Now he is a pilot director with a perfect batting average — both pilots he has directed, NBC/Universal TV’s Smash and Do No Harm, have gone to series. He will try to extend it with another NBC  pilot, Hatfields & McCoys, a modern-day Hatfields and McCoys drama project created by John Glenn and produced by Charlize Theron, Dawn Parouse Olmstead, Beau Flynn and ABC Studios. A startling death re-ignites the feud between these two legendary families in present-day Pittsburgh, unleashing decades of resentment. Mayer, who served as consulting producer/director on the first season of Smash, won a Tony in 2007 for Spring Awakening.

Comments (0)

Universal Tuning Feature Version Of Green Day Stage Musical ‘American Idiot’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday April 12, 2011 @ 6:04pm PDTTags: Cameron Mackintosh, Dustin Lance Black, Gary Goetzman, Kenny Ortega, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mamma Mia!, Michael Mayer, Playtone, Tom Hanks, Tom Hooper, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures is negotiating to turn the Green Day-fueled Broadway musical American Idiot into a feature film. Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning Milk scribe, is in talks to write the script, and Michael Mayer will direct. Mayer helmed the stage run of the musical, which is closing on Broadway April 24 and launching a tour in the fall. Black most recently scripted J. Edgar, the Clint Eastwood film that stars Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover.

The musical, which uses the songs of the punk band’s seminal 2004 album to tell the coming-of-age story of three small-town guys, was optioned before its opening last spring by Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. They previously turned the stage hit Mamma Mia! into a Universal film. It is expected that Green Day lead singer/songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong will be courted to play the role of the drug dealer St. Jimmy. Each time he did a stint in the role on Broadway, the grosses rose considerably at the St. James Theatre. The band was actively involved in the formation of the musical. Read More »

Comments 20

Jack Davenport To Co-Star In NBC’s ‘Smash’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Saturday February 12, 2011 @ 8:13pm PSTTags: ABC Revenge, Debra Messing, Debra Messing Smash, Michael Mayer, NBC Smash, Revenge Casting, Revenge Pilot, Smash Casting, Steven Spielberg, Theresa Rebeck, TV, TV Deals
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: I hear FlashForward alum Jack Davenport will co-star opposite Debra Messing in the NBC hourlong pilot Smash, which was based on an idea by Steven Spielberg. The pilot, from DreamWorks TV and UMS, follows a cross section of characters who … Read More »

Comments (6)