Rasputin: FX miniseries announced

[KarinK]

Deadline:

As we mark the 400th anniversary of Russia’s Romanov dynasty this year, FX has put in development an event series about the man closely associated with Romanovs’ final years. Rasputin, from Indian film director Shekhar Kapur, tells the story of the Russian peasant and mystic who became an adviser to the Russian Imperial family. Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring will write the script based on the upcoming book Rasputin: Dark Forces And The Fall of The Romanovs by Douglas Smith. Per FX, the event series centers on “one of the most controversial characters in history who is held responsible for bringing down the Russian Empire and changing the course of the world as we know it” and answers the question, “who was he really beyond the folklore, a true healer or the greatest charlatan the world has known?”

Kapur will direct and executive produce with Scheuring. Smith serves as consultant.

Kapur is no stranger to historical/period dramas, having directed the Elizabeth films, Four Feathers and Bandit Queen. He had long been fascinated with Rasputin’s life and when FX, which had been looking to develop a limited series about the enigmatic Russian, learned of Kapur’s interest in the subject, the network brass sat down with the director and quickly found creative common ground. Scheuring was then brought in to co-create the project with Shekhar and write the script.

Kapur's Elizabeth featured a wonderful performance by Cate Blanchett, but it was rather creative when it came to history. I expect that if this miniseries does get made the focus will be on Rasputin and scandal, with Nicholas, Alexandra and Alexei as the only members of the imperial family to get a notable amount of screentime.

[edubs31]

Interesting!

As I've said before you just knew these things were going to start rolling out (films/docs/mini-series) over the next few years as we commemorate the 100th anniversaries of the start of WWI, deaths of Rasputin/IF and the Russian Revolution.

I better step up my own writing :-)

[TimM]

Looks like we Romanov fans are going to get a lot these next few years.

[Georgiy]

Hmm, going by amazon, looks like the book is due out in 2016, in time for the 100th anniversary of Rasputin's assassination. Don't suppose the mini-series will be made/screened until then either.