Nat Geo Orders Sally Ride Doc & Stéphane Bourgoin Series As Anthony Mackie Takes Over ‘Shark Beach’

Peter White
·3 min read
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Nat Geo has ordered a trio of new projects.

The network has greenlit Pathological, a true-crime doc about conman Stéphane Bourgoin and Sally, a feature doc about space pioneer Sally Ride, while Anthony Mackie is taking Shark Beach over from Chris Hemsworth.

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Pathological: Chasing A True-Crime Con Man follows the rise and fall of bestselling French author and serial killer expert Bourgoin, whose career was built on a foundation of lies. The series takes viewers through the dramatic twists and turns of Bourgoin’s life in front of and behind the camera and tracks his pursuit by a group of true-crime enthusiasts, whose passion for the genre turned them into amateur sleuths and seekers of truth.

Based on the New Yorker’s 2022 piece on Bourgoin from journalist Lauren Collins, the three-part series comes from filmmaker Ben Selkow. It is produced by The New Yorker Studios and The Circus producer Left/Right.

Selkow directs and exec produces alongside Helen Estabrook, Sarah Amos, Lexy Altman, Lauren Collins, Banks Tarver, Ken Druckerman, Anneka Jones and Betsy Forhan.

Sally is a feature doc from National Geographic Documentary Films. Directed by Cristina Costantini (Mucho Mucho Amor), the explores the life and legacy of astronaut Dr. Sally Ride.

Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space and forever changed the course of science, exploration and women’s empowerment. But as she flew into orbit, Ride faced the challenges of institutional critics and the prejudice of an American public who were skeptical that a woman could do the job of an astronaut. Undeterred, Ride dove headfirst into that struggle, propelled by a determination few could match.

The doc will feature never-before-seen archival footage and also chronicles the 27-year romance with life partner Tam O’Shaughnessy, which was kept secret from the public until the day of Ride’s death.

It is produced by Story Syndicate in association with Muck Media with Dan Cogan and Lauren Cioffi producing. It is executive produced by Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin and Kate Barry for Story Syndicate and Carolyn Bernstein for National Geographic and O’Shaughnessy.

Finally, Anthony Mackie is taking over the Shark Beach franchise from Chris Hemsworth, which will kick off Nat Geo’s Sharkfest.

The film follows Mackie in his hometown of New Orleans, where he grew up boating and angling and still practices the sport to date, a passion he now shares with his four sons. In this film, Mackie investigates a fishing phenomenon called depredation, in which a shark preys upon a fisher’s catch and consumes it before it can be retrieved. Across the globe, more and more fishers are encountering sharks, and a worrying number of sharks are taking their catch. After an increase in shark sightings in his hometown, Mackie sets out to learn more about these concerning cases from local fishing communities in Louisiana but discovers these human-shark encounters may be pointing to larger environmental issues across the greater Gulf of Mexico.

Shark Beach with Anthony Mackie is produced by Nutopia. Directed by Matt Lay, it is exec produced by Arif Nurmohamed, Nicola Moody, Jane Root and Tracy Rudolph Jackson.

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