Ava DuVernay directing pilot of ‘DMZ’ adaptation for HBO Max. My nipples are so hard.
DMZ is one of my favorite comic series of all time. And now, on the precipice of our second Civil War, the comic is finally getting adapted. With Ava DuVernay directing the pilot. Holy fucking hell.
Deadline:
Hot off a big Emmy win for When They See Us, Ava DuVernay is set to launch her second project based on a DC Comics property
Already primed to directed a big screen adaptation of Jack Kirby’s New Gods, as Deadline reported last year, Oscar nominee DuVernay is now getting behind the camera for HBO Max with the DMZ pilot the soon-to-be streamer has ordered.
Adapted from the Vertigo imprint published and Brian Wood written comic of a second American Civil War in the near future, the A Wrinkle in Time helmer will direct the project with showrunner and EP Roberto Patino writing. Prophetically well timed if yesterday’s tweetstorm by Donald Trump is any roadmap, the Manhattan set DMZ will be produced by DuVernay’s ARRAY Filmworks in association with Warner Bros. Television.
“DMZ is a special project to me as it marks a key collaboration with my company ARRAY Filmworks, the excellent team at Warner Bros TV and the dynamo Roberto Patino,” DuVernay told Deadline today of the new project for the long-time comic fan.
“We’ve all worked diligently on this material and I’ve witnessed Roberto in action,” the 13th director added of her Westworld EP collaborator. “He’s insanely talented and cares about telling stories with maximum impact and imagination. I’m eager to share this one with DC fans.”
The original DMZ takes place in a nation torn apart by the uneasy détente between the remains of the federal government and the secessionist Free State armies. With art by Riccardo Burchielli and printed by DC Comics under its Vertigo imprint from 2005 – 2012, Wood’s story is centered in the sparsely populated demilitarized zone of what was once Manhattan.
The Patino penned adaption is said to center on a female medic on the island who is trying day-in and day-out to help keep residents alive while trying to also find her lost son. In the process, that determined medic proves a source of hope in an America that has lost all sense of the idea.
Both DuVernay and Patino have overall deals with Warner Bros Television – deals that were inked in September and November 2018, respectively.
Production on the DMZ pilot is scheduled to begin in early 2020 …or just a few months before the WarnerMedia owned HBO Max launches.