AMC turns David Carr memoir into drama

US cable channel AMC and Sony Pictures Television are turning late journalist David Carr’s memoir, The Night of the Gun, into a six-part miniseries.

Bob Odenkirk is attached to play Carr, the New York journalist who turned his battle with drugs and experiences as a leading New York Times columnist into a brutal book.

Odenkirk has starred in AMC- and SPT-coproduced drug drama Breaking Bad spin-off series, Better Call Saul.

The Shield creator Shawn Ryan will executive produce and write the series, with Odenkirk and his production partner, Marc Provissiero also executive producing, along with Joshua Astrachan. Eileen Myers (Masters of Sex) is also a writer and executive producer.

SPT will coproduce the series with AMC Studios, with Odenkirk-Provissiero, Ryan’s Middkidd Productions and Astrachan’s Animal Kingdom, which originated the project, all attached.

“David Carr’s work as a journalist was uncompromising, enlightening, and most of all, always driven by a fundamental quest for the truth. When he turned those skills and values around to focus on his own life as an addict, the result was a stunningly original, compelling and important piece of journalism the likes of which the world had never seen – a simultaneously heartbreaking, funny, and inspirational account that redefined the idea of telling a personal story,” said Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV.

“David Carr’s life was the antithesis of formulaic and only a team as creative as this could bring it to life with authenticity, audacity and reverence,” said Helen Verno, executive vice president, movies and miniseries for SPT.

Carr died in 2015 after a battle with lung cancer.