Cary Fukunaga shifts from The Alienist to The Black Count

September 23rd 2016, 8:59am

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Until a couple of years ago Cary Fukunaga’s name rang no bells for most people in the world. Now, after breaking out with 2014’s TRUE DETECTIVE, the man’s name has been attached to a litany of projects. Not only did he helm BEASTS OF NO NATION, one of last year’s best films, but he was also originally set to direct the new IT adaptation, has been attached to an Emma Stone/Jonah Hill project and was set to direct TNT’s newest series, THE ALIENIST. In fact, the man is so busy the latter project will now have to take a back seat for an even more ambitious project.

Deadline reports that Fukunaga has had to step aside to the role of executive producer on the new murder-thriller series set in 1896 so that he can put focus into directing the film THE BLACK COUNT, which is the story of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, French military commander, and father of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO author, Alexandre Dumas.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name tells the story of Dumas who was born a slave and by 31 was made a general in the French army, the first black man to reach that position in France. He was then made general-in-chief, but despite his illustrious career he died in poverty when his son was four years old.

Many know about the son, and his many famous works, but very few know about his father. This will be a massive undertaking by Fukunaga, so I can imagine why he would have to step away from ALIENIST (which had been experiencing budget delays) to focus on it. He split from IT because he apparently wanted to make the movie more of a coming-of-age story than the straight-up horror flick the studio wanted, which frankly would’ve been an interesting way to go. That and having seen his impressive work on BEASTS OF NO NATION, leads me to believe BLACK COUNT will be a stirring, wartime character drama. Let’s just hope we can actually see something this man directs before he has depart from the project and start something new. Pick a lane, you busy bee!