Viola Davis is set to star as First Lady Michelle Obama in an anthology series that is in the works at Showtime.
It is reportedly on a fast-track development schedule with Davis executive producing. The project is written by Aaron Cooley with Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions, Cathy Schulman’s Welle Entertainment, Gaspin Media and Brad Kaplan producing. Showtime and Lionsgate TV are co-producers.
Here’s the description: First Ladies is set in the East Wing of the White House, where many of history’s most impactful and world-changing decisions have been hidden from view, made by America’s charismatic, complex and dynamic First Ladies. The series will peel back the curtain on the personal and political lives of our most enigmatic heroes, with season one focusing on Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Ford and Michelle Obama.
The idea for the series came from Schulman, inspired by a spec script Cooley wrote about Lady Bird Johnson. All of the source material comes from the public domain.
Reese Witherspoon once had a similar series in development a few years ago, based on Kate Andersen Brower’s First Women: The Grace & Power Of America’s Modern First Ladies.
This is one of many projects that Davis and Tennon’s JuVee Productions has in development, including a series adaptations of Wild Seed and Fast Color at Amazon (where the company has a first-look feature deal).
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