Rob Zombie and Bret Easton Ellis Teaming on Manson Family Series

Credit: RobZombie.com

In one of the more surprising development pairings in some time, director Rob Zombie and Bret Easton Ellis (the author behind American Psycho) will be developing a series for FOX centered on the Manson Family murder spree in August 1969. Of course, this seems somewhat redundant on a network that already has The Following, but maybe they want to take another crack at doing the whole "killer cult" story and possibly doing it right this time.

The project will be a limited series, with Ellis writing the script and Zombie directing the material. The Manson Family slayings have apparently been a long-time fascination for Zombie, a director who's made his fair share of slasher films (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects). The killings left seven people dead in Los Angeles in the summer of 1969, with pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of director Roman Polanski) and Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring among the victims. Yet the horrific murders themselves aren't the point of interest, but rather Charles Manson’s insane, disturbing level of control and power over his drug-fueled followers. His influence was severe enough that Manson was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy charges despite lack of any evidence implicating him in directly committing a homicide himself. And there are countless other murders of which the Manson Family is suspected.

It is these stories that the proposed limited series looks to explore, as the Ellis/Zombie project will "tell converging stories of people and events leading up to and after the murders, from shifting points of view."

Further details on the developing project via Variety:

The idea for the project began with Zombie and Adam Kolbrenner and Robyn Meisinger of Madhouse Entertainment. They developed the concept and brought it to Ellis and Alcon. To date, no source material has been optioned for the project, which plans to take an original approach to dramatizing stories drawn from the historical record.

Ellis, Zombie and the Madhouse principals will exec produce with Alcon’s Sharon Hall, Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson. Ben Roberts and Ryan Cunningham serve as co-producers.

“I have been obsessed with this insane story since I was a kid, so obviously I jumped at the chance to be involved in this incredible project. After speaking with Bret, I immediately realized that we shared the same vision for this epic madness,” Zombie said.

Despite the relatively big-name involvement, the project is reportedly still a long way from receiving the official greenlight from FOX. Perhaps the network is concerned about backlash from audiences and TV watch-groups regarding the graphic nature of the subject matter? It's one thing for The Following to indulge in gore-drenched excess and total nihilism, but that show is fictional. This looks to be taking a look into the lives and crimes of real people, and their very real victims. And that might be a bridge too far, even for FOX. Although the series still has a chance if it manages to be...well, less gruesome than The Following. And really, it shouldn't be that hard for any show to be less severe than The Following was in its first season.

But it will be difficult to downplay the horrific nature of what the Manson Family did. Hopefully, it focuses more on the psyche of the people who committed these crimes, instead of focusing on the crimes themselves, yet the series then risks asking us to identify with murderers. It'll be a hard road for the show to walk, but there's enough talent here to make it work. I suppose we'll see soon enough.