Joe Manganiello to Co-Direct Dungeons & Dragons Documentary

Justice League and True Blood star Joe Manganiello is co-directing a documentary about the first fifty years of Dungeons & Dragons. Hasbro and its eOne studio announced the project yesterday, with Manganiello and Kyle Newman set to direct. Newman is a veteran film and documentary maker and also wrote the 2018 Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History book. The film will feature over 400 hours of archival footage from the earliest years of the game that have never been publicly aired before and will include celebrity interviews. The untitled documentary is being billed as the first "authorized" telling of Dungeons & Dragons' history. 

Manganiello will also serve as a producer for the film, along with his brother Nick Manganiello, Anthony Savini and Cecily Tyler. Tara Long and Geno McDermott will serve as executive producers for eOne alongside Jon Peterson, Adam F. Goldberg and Newman.

Magnaniello is a well-known Dungeons & Dragons fan, having worked for Wizards of the Coast to both promote and create content for Dungeons & Dragons. He has also appeared on several charity D&D streams and runs a well-known D&D game in Hollywood featuring numerous Hollywood stars and directors. 

"I couldn't be more proud and excited to get back behind the camera for another documentary, this time with the D&D dream team of Jon, Kyle and my brother and producing partner Nick," said Manganiello in the press release announcing the documentary. "I lived through the rise and fall and rise again of this legacy brand that has not only meant so much to me but has served as the fountainhead of creativity for an entire generation of writers, artists and creative minds, influencing so much of our culture. None of this would have been possible without Nathan Stewart at Wizards of the Coast and my eternally supportive boss from the HBO/'True Blood' days, Michael Lombardo and the fantastic team at eOne."

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