Hulu’s ‘The Looming Tower’ Casts Peter Sarsgaard as CIA Analyst
Hulu’s “The Looming Tower” has snagged Peter Sarsgaard to star opposite Jeff Daniels, Variety has learned.
The 10-episode drama, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning expose by Lawrence Wright on the in-fighting between the FBI and CIA in the years leading up to 9/11, was ordered to series in September by the streaming service. It traces the rising threat of Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, and takes a controversial look at how the rivalry between the CIA and FBI may have inadvertently set the stage for the tragedy of 9/11 and the war in Iraq.
Sarsgaard will play Martin Schmidt, a CIA analyst who invariably believes he’s by far the smartest person in the room. Under orders to share intelligence with John O’Neill (Daniels) and the FBI, Schmidt opts instead to horde information under the misguided notion that the CIA is the only agency equipped to battle potential terrorist threats. He locks horns with O’Neill, the bull-headed FBI veteran who is rightly convinced that the U.S. has been targeted for attack by Al-Qaeda, and is frustrated by the competitiveness and lack of cooperation among other law enforcement agencies.
“Looming Tower” hails from Legendary Television and is executive produced by Alex Gibney, writer Dan Futterman (“Foxcatcher”), and Wright. Craig Zisk is also directing and producing. Legendary Television Distribution will distribute the series worldwide.
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