Paul Bettany To Play Unabomber In Discovery Channel’s FBI Drama ‘Manifesto’
EXCLUSIVE: Paul Bettany is set to star as Ted Kaczynski, also known as the “Unabomber,” in the Discovery Channel’s upcoming high-profile FBI crime-drama Manifesto.
Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti executive produce the show through their Trigger Street Productions banner. Black List writer Andrew Sodroski, who wrote the pilot, will also exec produce along with Troy Searer and Discovery’s John Goldwyn.
Greg Yaitanes, who won an Emmy for his work on House, will be showrunner for the series and is set to direct all episodes. He’ll also exec produce. Yaitanes recently directed an episode of WGN’s Underground.
Manifesto explores how the FBI caught infamous criminal masterminds, with the first season set to focus on FBI agent Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald, a specialized linguist who challenged old-school ways with a radical approach to intelligence gathering. His unconventional means brought the Unabomber to justice after a near 20-year manhunt when he discovered that the key to unlocking his true identity could be found in the language of “The Manifesto,” a detailed account of some of Kaczynski’s plots.
The series marks another big push from Discovery into the scripted programming arena after the cable network’s Harley-Davidson miniseries Harley And The Davidsons.
British actor Bettany has had a long and impressive career since he first broke onto the scene in Brit film Gangster No. 1 in 2000. Since then, he’s had roles in Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code and frequently stars in Marvel titles such as The Avengers and Captain America: Civil War.
Bettany is repped by UTA, Affirmative Entertainment and Independent Talent Group.
Sodroski is repped by CAA, Pacific View Management and attorney David Fox. Yaitanes is repped by CAA and Skrzyniarz & Mallean.
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