John Michael McDonagh, the filmmaker behind ‘The Guard’, ‘Calvary’, and ‘War on Everyone’ (in cinemas 7 October), is bringing his distinctive voice to television for his next project, Yahoo Movies can exclusively reveal.

The British filmmaker told us that he’s currently writing an 8-hour “true crime” HBO miniseries that he also plans to direct.

“I’ve got two films in different stages of development, but it looks like what’s going to go next is a HBO miniseries,” McDonagh revealed, “It’s about 8 hours, too much work, so I’m going to have to write 8 hours worth of TV, but it’s based on a book, so at least I have that to go with.

“And then I have to direct the bloody thing as well.”

Alexander Skarsgård. John Michael McDonagh, and Michael Peña at SXSW – Credit: Getty More

In an interview with Hollywood Reporter earlier this year, McDonagh said he didn’t want to write for television because “TV can’t afford me — too little money offered for too much work. I’d rather sit in the sun with a cold beer and a hot blonde”, but it seems the offer from HBO was just too good to turn down.

When pressed for further information about the upcoming project he remained tight-lipped.

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“I can’t tell you the name of it apparently,” McDonagh told us.

“My wife [Elizabeth Eves] is my co-producer, she says, ‘don’t say the name’ because there’s another rival project, that deals with a similar story. It’s based on a true crime, and there’s a rival to it, so I’m not allowed to say.”

Other projects the War On Everyone director is currently developing include the concluding part of his Brendan Gleeson ‘glorified suicide’ trilogy ‘The Lame Shall Enter First’, a film about Parisian bank robbers ‘The Bonnot Gang’, and an adaptation of Percival Everett’s crime novel ‘Assumption’.

‘War On Everyone’ is in cinemas on 7 October.



