While it's becoming less unusual to see movie directors jump to TV projects, we're excited to hear that David Cronenberg is in the process of developing a new TV series titled Knifeman.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cronenberg will direct the pilot episode and serve as an executive producer on the series, which is based on The Knife Man, a biography of eighteenth century surgeon John Hunter. From author Wendy Moore's website:
"The Knife Man, relates the life of maverick 18th-century surgeon John Hunter. From humble Scottish origins, John Hunter rose to become the most famous anatomist and surgeon of the eighteenth century. In an age when operations were crude, extremely painful and often fatal, Hunter rejected medieval traditions based on ancient Greek orthodoxy to forge a revolution in surgery founded on pioneering scientific experiments. Using the knowledge gained from countless human dissections, Hunter worked to improve medical care for both the poorest and the best-known characters of the time, including the prime minister William Pitt, the artist Sir Joshua Reynolds and the young Lord Byron.
Although a central figure of the Enlightenment, revered by fellow scientists and friendly with high society, Hunter’s tireless quest for human corpses immersed him deep in the sinister world of body-snatching. He paid exorbitant sums for stolen cadavers, stalked interesting specimens and even managed to steal the body of Charles Byrne, better known as the ‘Irish giant’.
Byrne’s skeleton, along with thousands more trophies of Hunter’s research, can still be seen today in the Hunterian Museum at the headquarters of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in London."
The Knifeman is in the early stages of development and has not yet been shopped to buyers. Rolin Jones is currently writing for the project and Sam Raimi will also be on board as one of the executive producers. We'll keep an eye out for new developments and will keep readers updated.
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