- David Chase (The Sopranos) has been re-enlisted by HBO to create a new series dubbed Project: MKUltra, exploring the dark chapter in CIA history.
- This effectively marks Chaseโs first series โ both with HBO and in general โ since the universally acclaimed The Sopranos (1999-2007), and what will hopefully be his first realised production since its prequel film The Many Saints of Newark.
- HBOโs Project: MKUltra release date: TBA.
After a stuttery post-The Sopranos development period, David Chase is reuniting with HBO to collaborate on a brand new limited series.
Trading the mob for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the forthcoming affair has been titled Project: MKUltra, and draws direct inspiration from the non-fiction book Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKUltra by John Lisle.
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HBO describes it as a โdramatic thriller centred on the infamous chemist and spymaster Sidney Gottlieb, often known as The Black Sorcerer, who headed the CIAโs MKUltra Psychedelic program which conducted dangerous and deadly mind control experiments on willing โ and unwilling โ subjects during the height of the Cold War. Gottlieb is also known as the unwitting godfather of the entire LSD counterculture.โ
For further context, the infamously illegal human experimentation โ undertaken between 1953 and 1973 โ not only identified avenues of brainwashing and psychological torture, but also produced some dangerous test subjects, such as Ted Kaczynski (better known as the Unabomber) and, allegedly, even cult leader Charles Manson.
David Chase will executive produce Project: MKUltra via his Riverain Pictures alongside Nicole Lambert, head of production and development for the company. Official casting and a release window/date have yet to be confirmed.
As mentioned earlier, the road to producing another drama after something as seminal as The Sopranos hasnโt exactly been straightforward for David Chase; even its divisive feature-length prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, required almost 15 years before it graced our screens.
Prior to the latest headlines, Chase had reportedly been developing a series about the dawn of Hollywood known as A Ribbon of Dreams (derived from an Orson Welles quote describing films as such).
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According to Entertainment Weekly, it was said to take place in 1913 and follow two men โ a college-educated mechanical engineer and cowboy with a violent past โ who soon form โan unlikely producing partnershipโ to become pioneers and powers in the age of motion pictures.
The leads wouldโve โ[begun] as employees of D.W. Griffithโฆ then cross career paths with John Ford, John Wayne, Raoul Walsh, Bette Davis, Billy Wilderโ โ as well as other pivotal who had a hand in shaping modern Hollywood as it transitioned from silent Westerns to the golden era, โtalkiesโ and the studio system, progressing to the auteur movement and television, before finally arriving at present day.
Currently, itโs unclear whether A Ribbon of Dreams will ever see the light of day (or whether itโs been shelved indefinitely).
Keep an eye out here for future updates on HBOโs Project: MKUltra with David Chase.
Now read our one-on-one interview with David Chase here, and The Sopranos cast member Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) here.
