Daniel Bruhl (Rush, Inglorious Bastards, Captain America: Civil War) and Luke Evans (The Girl on The Train, The Hobbit trilogy, Dracula Untold) have been cast in TNT‘s The Alienist, the series based on the Anthony Award-winning New York Times bestseller by Caleb Carr. Brühl will play forensic psychologist Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, while Evans will play reporter John Moore, who are both called upon to investigate a series of brutal murders in New York during the Gilded Age.
Slated to premiere on TNT in late 2017, The Alienist will be directed and executive-produced by BAFTA-nominated director Jakob Verbruggen (“Black Mirror”). The series is a co-production of Paramount Television and Turner’s Studio T. Emmy winner Cary Fukunaga (True Detective), Academy Award winner Eric Roth (Forrest Gump), Oscar nominee Hossein Amini (Drive) and Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin and Rosalie Swedlin, all serve as executive producers. Production will begin in early 2017 in Budapest.
Based on the international best-selling novel by Caleb Carr, The Alienist is a psychological thriller set in the Gilded Age of New York City in 1896, a city of vast wealth, extreme poverty and technological innovation. When a series of haunting, gruesome murders of boy prostitutes grips the city, newly appointed police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt calls upon criminal psychologist (aka alienist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Brühl) and newspaper reporter John Moore (Evans) to conduct the investigation in secret. They are aided by a makeshift crew of singular characters, among them the intrepid Sara Howard, a young secretary on Roosevelt’s staff who is determined to become the first female police detective in New York City. Using the emerging disciplines of psychology and early forensic investigation techniques, this band of social outsiders tracks down one of New York City’s first serial killers.
Known as an alienist – one who studies mental pathologies – Dr. Kriezler works as a specialist in deviant behavior. His profession, along with his careless intensity, makes him a social pariah in some circles, despite his striking good looks and a sophisticated sensibility. Kreizler is passionate about his work and tireless in his efforts to seek out the depraved killer whose vicious, barbaric and ritualistic deeds have terrorized the city’s poorest residents. In doing so, he hopes to also unravel the traumatic mysteries of the human psyche, especially his own, and answer the question behind what makes a man into a murderer.
Handsome, easy going, easily distracted, and prone to melancholy, John Moore is a society illustrator for the New York Times and a longtime friend of alienist Dr. Kreizler and police commissioner Teddy Roosevelt. While drowning his sorrows and lamenting the loss of a former lover Kreizler summons him to the scene of a brutal crime. Always lacking drive and a meaning to his pursuits he throws himself into assisting Kreizler’s investigation into the grisly murders and comes to face some hard truths about himself.
Brühl won a Screen Actors Guild Award as a member of the ensemble cast in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards. He also earned Golden Globe, SAG Award, BAFTA and Broadcast Film Critics Association Award nominations for his performance as Niki Lauda in Ron Howard’s Rush. He previously won accolades for such international productions as Good Bye Lenin!, Salvador and Eva. Brühl’s other credits include Captain America: Civil War, The Fifth Estate, The Face of an Angel, Alone in Berlin, Burnt and A Most Wanted Man. He most recently shot God Particle and The Zookeeper’s Wife, and is currently filming Entebbe.
Welsh actor Luke Evans is known for his performance as the heroic Bard the Bowman in Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy The Hobbit. He has also co-starred in the action blockbuster Fast and Furious 6, and he played the title role in Dracula Untold. Evans’ other credits include Clash of the Titans, Immortals, The Raven and High-Rise, the latter earning him a British Independent Film Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also starred in the 2013 BBC miniseries The Great Train Robbery. In addition to his role in The Alienist, Evans will soon be seen in Disney’s highly-anticipated, live-action musical remake of Beauty and the Beast, in which he plays the iconic, swashbuckling Gaston. Evans just wrapped leading roles in the films State Like Sleep and Professor Marston.
(Photo Credit: WENN.com)
