Latest news with #PeoplesTemple
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Murder lover Bill Hader sets Jonestown project
Condolences to Martin Scorsese, whose Jonestown project was unceremoniously killed at Continental Studios. It looks like Bill Hader got the jump on him, as it was announced today the Saturday Night Live alum is developing a series centered on the Jonestown massacre for HBO. Hader will co-write and serve as co-showrunner on the project with Daniel Zelman (Damages). According to Variety, Hader will direct and potentially star in the series. In the 1970s, preacher Jim Jones moved his congregation, the Peoples Temple, to Guyana, establishing the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project; the settlement resulted in tragedy after the shooting of a visiting U.S. congressman and the murder-suicide of over 900 members via poison. Even beyond Scorsese's fictional pitch on The Studio, the Jonestown cult has been the subject of fascination for Hollywood. Vince Gilligan was reportedly developing an HBO Jonestown series way back in 2016. Leonardo DiCaprio was cast in a Jim Jones biopic in 2021, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was attached to play him in an entirely different film opposite Chloë Grace Moretz in 2022. We don't yet know what angle Bill Hader's Jonestown project will take, but the budding television auteur is undeniably drawn to darker subject matter. In his acclaimed series Barry, he starred as a soldier-turned-hitman. One of his biggest post-SNL roles was playing the adult Richie in the Stephen King horror It Chapter Two. And he'll next lend his voice to one of fiction's most irredeemable maniacs, The Cat In The Hat. But Hader comes by the darkness honestly. He has a documented fascination with true crime and has spoken often about his love of Dateline, and Snapped, and Forensic Files. Will he bring his signature sense of humor to this latest dark subject matter? A real-life tragedy is harder to make funny, but we'll see what Hader comes up with. More from A.V. Club
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Reports Say Bill Hader Is Developing An HBO Show About The Jonestown Massacre And I'm Very Torn Over The Idea
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. First, there was a plot point on The Studio about the Jonestown Massacre -- which you can watch with an Apple TV+ subscription, by the way. Then, an announcement that SNL vet Bill Hader is developing a TV show based on the cult. At first, my lizard brain got excited. I've been interested in cults and the Peoples Temple, in particular, for years. Then, something I heard in one of the more recent documentaries about Jonestown started creeping into my brain. Now, I'm really torn on how I feel about this possible TV show. There are tons of documentaries, podcasts, and books about cults. It's really easy to get sucked into some of the incredible stories of religion, drugs, sex, violence, and death that so often go with the largest and most notorious cults in the last couple of centuries. The Peoples Temple, the church started by Jim Jones in San Francisco in 1954, that eventually led to the mass suicide of Jones and his followers at Jonestown, Guyana in 1978, is the most notorious and the most terrifying of them all. I've read books and watched countless documentaries about Jones and his followers, some better than others, of course. For a long time, I had a morbid fascination with the cult and often used gallows humor with friends when talking about it. I even had a coffee cup with a picture of Jones on it with the words 'Drink Up' underneath it. I would laugh when I used it, and my friends, when they would see it, would also laugh. The tragedy didn't directly impact me, it happened decades ago when I was just a baby, so for me, it was more or less a cultural news event, no different than Watergate or the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Jokes were fair game. Late-night TV hosts joked about it, so could I. Hell, 'drink the Kool-Aid' has become part of the American lexicon. Here's the part where I have to point out they didn't actually use Kool-Aid for the poison-laced drinks at Jonestown; it was actually a brand called 'Flavor Aid.' As I said, there are countless documentaries about Jonestown, and last year, one of the best hit streaming. Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown, which you can watch on Hulu, is one of the most in-depth looks at the tragedy ever produced, and in particular, it has a number of interviews with survivors of the massacre and the family members of some of the people who died. In the film, they talk about how hard it is to deal with the cultural zeitgeist surrounding the church and the suicide of its members and of cult leaders in general, especially Jones, of course. It got me thinking about how I would feel if a family member of mine had been one of the victims of Jones' insanity. How would I feel every time I heard that phrase, 'drank the Kool-Aid,' knowing that my loved one had died from doing that? In short, it made me completely re-evaluate how I thought of the event. I threw the coffee mug away, and now I bristle when I hear someone joke about the events in Guyana in 1978. So that leaves me where I am today. It's not that I'm still not fascinated by cults and why people are drawn into them. I've always understood that people end up in them for many reasons, and it doesn't mean they are stupid, or gullible, or anything like that. People are people, and we can all get enamored and attached to things that aren't good for us and fall victim to cult thinking. So, do I want to see a TV show based on the events of Jonestown? Well, yeah, I do. Should I want to see it? That's a question I'm not ready to answer.
The Hindu
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Bill Hader developing Jonestown series at HBO, may star as cult leader Jim Jones
Bill Hader is co-writing a Jonestown-centered drama series in development at HBO, with plans to also direct and potentially take on the lead role of cult leader Jim Jones. There's no official greenlight or production timeline yet, but if the project moves ahead, HBO could be looking at one of its most intense true crime adaptations yet. The project, which the Barry star is developing alongside Damages co-creator Daniel Zelman, will chronicle the rise and tragic fall of the Peoples Temple and the infamous 1978 mass murder-suicide that claimed over 900 lives in Jonestown, Guyana. Hader and Zelman are co-writing, executive producing, and will act as co-showrunners. Should the series move forward, it would mark a major tonal shift for Hader, known for balancing comedy and psychological tension in Barry, which earned him two Emmys for lead actor. This new project leans fully into historical drama, focusing on the manipulation, paranoia, and eventual catastrophe that surrounded Jones and his followers. The announcement comes amid renewed pop culture interest in the Jonestown story, recently referenced in an episode of Apple TV's The Studio. The Jonestown tragedy has been revisited numerous times in film and television, most notably in the 1980 CBS miniseries Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones and through various documentaries and books. HBO previously attempted to launch a Jonestown series from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan in 2016, but it never advanced.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jonestown Series From Bill Hader & Daniel Zelman In Development At HBO
A series about the Rev. Jim Jones, the charismatic cult leader behind the 1978 mass-murder suicide at the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project (aka Jonestown) in the Guyanese jungle, is in development at HBO, Deadline has confirmed. The project hails from Bill Hader, who also is being eyed to potentially star, and Daniel Zelman. Hader and Zelman will co-write and serve as co-showrunners. Hader also will direct if the project moves forward. More from Deadline Paul Ben-Victor Joins 'Lanterns' DC Series At HBO 'The Last Of Us': Differences Between HBO Series & Video Game Across Seasons 1 And 2 'The Last Of Us' Creators Break Down Season 2's Heartbreaking Second Episode & Its Enduring Implications According to the logline, the project tells the story of Jones and his people. Jonestown became internationally infamous in November 1978 when Jones orchestrated a mass murder-suicide of more than 900 members of his Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana. The majority of deaths were caused by cyanide-laced fruit punch, with some being forced to ingest the poison, while others were injected. The poisonings followed the murder of U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan by Temple members at Port Kaituma, ordered by Jones. Four other members committed murder-suicide in Georgetown, Guyana at Jones' command. Jones had led his followers to Guyana from the U.S., promising them a utopian community, but his leadership became increasingly paranoid and controlling. Over the years, there have been several media depictions of the tragedy, including the 2007 History Channel documentary Jonestown: Paradise Lost, 2006 documentary film Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, the 1979 film Guyana: Cult of the Damned, based on the Jonestown tragedy and Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, a 1980 CBS miniseries based on the life of Jones and the Peoples Temple. Hader most recently wrapped a four-season run on HBO's Barry, which he co-created and starred in. He received 16 Emmy nominations for his work on the show, including four shared nominations in the Best Comedy Series category. Variety was first to report the of Deadline 'Wednesday' Season 2: Everything We Know About The Cast, Premiere Date & More 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More 'The Last Of Us': Differences Between HBO Series & Video Game Across Seasons 1 And 2
