Cary Fukunaga, Gideon Raff Talk ‘Maniac,’ ‘Prisoners of War 3’ in Mumbai
MUMBAI — Television’s golden boys Cary Fukunaga and Gideon Raff discussed the evolution of television writing at a panel at the ongoing Mumbai Film Festival.
Speaking about his new Netflix series “Maniac,” starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, based on the Norwegian series of the same name created by Espen Petrus Andersen Lervaag and Håkon Bast Mossige, and being written by Patrick Somerville (“The Bridge”), Fukunaga said, “It’s a new story, new characters and a new tone. We’ve just taken the seed from the Norwegian series. Patrick is not adapting it, he’s creating it.”
The genesis of “Maniac” was a casual affair. “I really wanted to work with Emma. And she wanted to work with Jonah. So we went to his house, had a glass of wine, and we agreed to do a show,” Fukunaga said.
The panel was preceded by the world premiere of the pilot of “P.O.W.: Bandi Yuddh Ke,” the Indian adaptation of Raff’s Israeli drama “Hatufim” (“Prisoners of War”) that was remade in the U.S. as “Homeland.” Bollywood filmmaker Nikkhil Advani (“D-Day”) is directing all 126 episodes that will air on Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV from Nov. 7, six days a week. “It’s a drug, people will keep coming back for their fix,” said Advani about the show.
The Indian adaptation will cover both seasons of “Hatufim” and the beginning of the as-yet unproduced third season. “I’m happy that I’ll get to see Season 3 in India before I do it,” said Raff.
Fukunaga consistently deflected questions about the much-derided second season of “True Detective.” “If Rust and Marty were to become homosexual lovers and open a detective agency, that’s a whole new arc to explore,” Fukunaga quipped when first asked the question.
When asked the question again, Fukunaga said, “Let me deflect this by asking, how about an Indian version of ‘True Detective’?” Raff said, “I’ll watch it,” Advani said, “I’ll make it,” and Star TV general manager Gaurav Banerjee added, “I’ll broadcast it.”
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