Michael Keaton to Star in New Hulu Series Dopesick

Michael Keaton has charmed audiences for years in roles like Batman and Beetlejuice — and it sounds like he’s adding another major project to his filmography. On Wednesday, Hulu announced that it will be giving a straight-to-series order for Dopesick, an upcoming limited series that will star Keaton. Dopesick is based on the New York Times bestselling book of the same name from Beth Macy, and tackles America’s current opioid crisis. The project will be written by Emmy Award-winning writer Danny Strong (Empire), and will be directed by Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Good Morning, Vietnam).

Dopesick is described as an ambitious, harrowing, and compelling look into the epicenter of America’s struggle with Opioid addiction, takes viewers from a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA, and to the opulence of “one percenter” Big Pharma Manhattan. The unsparing yet deeply human portraits of the various affected families and their intersecting stories hold up a mirror to where America is right now, while shining a hopeful light on the heroes battling the worst drug epidemic in American history. After 13 years, Michael Keaton returns to television as Samuel Finnix, an old-school doctor who approaches his practice with kindness and compassion, but finds himself embroiled in Big Pharma’s deadly secret.

“The minute we met with Danny Strong about Beth Macy’s bestselling book, we immediately knew it was the kind of groundbreaking series we just had to bring to Hulu,” Craig Erwich, Hulu’s SVP of Originals, said in a statement. “Danny’s unflinching and deeply compelling take on America’s opioid crisis will bring to life one of the most important stories impacting our culture. Add to that the cinematic vision of Barry Levinson and the extraordinary talent of Michael Keaton, and we’ve got an undeniable series that perfectly embodies our Hulu Originals brand.”

“Although we were sharply aware of and empathetic to the horrifying pain caused by the Opioid crisis for millions in this country, we were blown away when Warren Littlefield showed us Beth Macy’s book Dopesick. ,” Bert Salke, President, FOX 21 Television Studios, added. “Consequently, Danny Strong had been crafting his own telling of the opiate epidemic and in typical Danny form, it was mesmerizing. The fact that Warren and Danny are collaborating on this is a studio’s dream. Together with Barry Levinson and Michael Keaton, we have every reason to believe this important story will be one of the tv events of the coming year.”

“I’m so thrilled to tell this story with a company as bold and as daring as Hulu,” Strong said in a statement. “The opioid crisis is one of the most important stories of our time and I’m honored to not only pay tribute to its victims but to shine a light on the heroes that fought back. Laws were broken and many lies were told. The system failed us and Dopesick is going to show everyone how it all happened.”

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