David Chase Developing ‘Project: MKUltra’ Limited Series at HBO
“The Sopranos” creator optioned John Lisle’s “Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA and the Tragedy of MKUltra”
“The Sopranos” creator David Chase is in the midst of developing a new limited series at HBO, centered on the CIA’s MKUltra initiative.
The series, titled “Project: MKUltra,” is adapted from John Lisle’s “Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA and the Tragedy of MKUltra,” which Chase optioned. Chase will write the project and executive produce under his Riverain Pictures shingle with HBO.
Described as a dramatic thriller, the series is centered on the infamous chemist and spymaster Sidney Gottlieb, often known as The Black Sorcerer, who headed the CIA’s MKUltra Psychedelic program which conducted dangerous and deadly mind control experiments on willing — and unwilling — subjects during the height of the Cold War, per the official logline. Notably, Gottlieb is also known as the unwitting godfather of LSD counterculture.
In addition to Chase, Riverain Pictures’ head of production and development Nicole Lambert will executive produce for Riverain Pictures.
The new limited series will mark Chase’s first TV project since “The Sopranos,” which ran for six seasons from 1999 to 2007 on HBO. Since then, Chase has produced and written “Not Fade Away” and “The Many Saints of Newark.”
Beyond “The Sopranos,” Chase is known for writing and producing “The Rockford Files,” as well as his involvement in its subsequent movie spinoffs, “The Rockford Files: Punishment and Crime,” “The Rockford Files: Godfather Knows Best,” “The Rockford Files: Friends and Foul Play,” “The Rockford Files: If the Frame Fits…” and “The Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise.” His other TV writing credits include “Northern Exposure,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “Almost Grown” and “Switch,” among others.
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