A tale of lies and cowardice, of courage and conviction, of human failure and human nobility.
This is how American television HBO network described the new project they are to shoot about world’s worst nuclear disaster in Ukraine.
In 1986, reactor No. 4 of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded some 90 kilometers north of Kyiv and revealed highly radioactive substances into the atmosphere.
The staff of the five-part miniseries is more than impressive: Craig Mazin, known for the “Huntsman: Winter’s War” and “The Hangover” screenwriting, and Johan Renck, a director of “Breaking Bad,” and “The Walking Dead” series.
Carolyn Strauss known for working at the “Game of Thrones” television series will produce the feature. Jane Featherstone, a co-producer of “Broadchurch,” and Chris Fry, producer of “Humans,” will co-produce it.
The Chornobyl catastrophe is a background for a story about Valery Legasov, the Soviet Union scientist chosen by the Kremlin to investigate the accident. “Mad Men” star Jared Harris will play the main character. According to the plot, Legasov takes a closer look at why the nuclear disaster happened and who is to blame. The miniseries will also highlight rescuers engaged in the post-accident cleanup.
Kary Antholis, HBO miniseries and Cinemax programming president, is convinced the story will engage and fascinate the viewers around the world.
“From the moment Mazin pitched us the story, we were convinced that this all-too-true tale of horror and redemption needed to be told,” she said at the Television Critics Association summer press tour on July 26.
The production is scheduled to start in Lithuania in spring of 2018.
Yet, it is not the first movie about the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. Aside of Ukraine and Russia-produced features, in 2012 Warner Brothers studio shot a horror movie “Chernobyl Diaries” which tells a story of a group of people, trapped in Prypyat, a town near Chornobyl, and haunted by the humanoid mutants. The producer of the movie is Oren Peli, who used to work on such features as “Paranormal Activity” and “Insidious.”
