“American Crime Story: Katrina” Is Currently In Limbo
The next season of FX’s American Crime Story was supposed to have been about 2005’s Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. But it looks like speedos and serial murder trump terrifying natural disaster and the destruction of almost an entire city. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, one of the directors of ACS’ first season (The People Vs. O.J. Simpson) says that the show might not happen at all.
Producer/director Anthony Hemingway says that the American Crime Story team is “waiting to find out what’s happening” from ACS creator and gay television mafia head Ryan Murphy.
“That just kind of got stalled. We’re all standing by waiting to find out what’s happening.”
Originally, Gianni Versace/Andrew Cunanan (American Crime Story: Versace) were supposed to have been the anthology’s third season. It got bumped up in June, although FX said at the time that both seasons would air in 2018. But it looks Ryan might have put Katrina aside. Anthony, who directed five episodes of O.J., noted that “nothing has really been done” in regards to the show, and that they “haven’t started prep on it at all.”
ACS: Katrina is supposed to star Annette Benning as former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, Dennis Quaid as Dubya, and Matthew Broderick as Federal Emergency Management Agency director (and Katrina villain) Michael D. Brown. Fun fact – Annette was the only worthwhile part of the Murphy-directed film version of Augusten Burroughs’ Running With Scissors in 2006. They can’t all be winners (hence The New Normal and Scream Queens).
Honestly, you can’t blame Ryan. Like I mentioned in the first paragraph – speedos. Speedos are wonderful if you’re able to ignore the killing spree and the miscasting of Donatella Versace. (They should have just charbroiled Janice from the Muppets.)
“I just think that was [what was] at play. It was the bird in hand syndrome. [Versace] needed a lot of attention, so I think he just made the decision to do that. Instead of do what was intended, which was doing them parallel at the same time, he chose to do them one at a time.”
THR says “sources” claim that Ryan wasn’t ready for how much work Katrina would be. 1,800 people died and a city partially sunk. It makes sense that depicting it would be a little intimidating. It’s probably going to take a lot more than Sarah Paulson in a fright wig to pull that awfulness off in a realistic manner without offending everyone.
Pic: WENN