Apple TV+ has given a formal green light to Cape Fear, a TV series executive produced by two Oscar winners, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. They are joined by a third, Javier Bardem, who will star and executive produce.
Created by Nick Antosca (The Act), Cape Fear is based on both John D. MacDonald’s novel “The Executioners” — which inspired the 1962 feature of the same name directed by J. Lee Thompson from storyboards devised by original director Alfred Hitchcock — as well as the 1991 remake directed by Scorsese.
In the 10-episode series, described as a tense, Hitchcockian thriller and an examination of America’s obsession with true crime in the 21st century, a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Amanda and Steve Bowden when Max Cady (played by Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison.
That is a slight departure from MacDonald’s book and the movies where only the husband is a lawyer.
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In the two features, Max was played by Robert Mitchum (1962) and Robert De Niro (1991). The married couple was played by Gregory Peck & Polly Bergen and Nick Nolte & Jessica Lange, respectively.
The Cape Fear TV series hails from UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, and Amblin Television — siblings/divisions of Universal Pictures, the studio behind both movies, and Amblin Entertainment, which produced the 1991 one.
Spielberg, who produced the 1991 film, Scorsese and Antosca will executive produce alongside Alex Hedlund for Eat The Cat; Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will executive produce alongside Spielberg for Amblin Television.
UCP took out the Cape Fear series a year ago with Antosca, Spielberg and Scorsese attached. As Deadline reported at the time, Apple TV+, where Scorsese has a first-look TV deal and had just directed Killers Of the Flower Moon and where Amblin Television had just produced Masters Of The Air, was considered a likely destination.
Indeed, the project quietly landed at Apple TV+ earlier this year where it underwent development and attached Bardem before earning a series green light.
Bardem also has an existing relationship with Apple, he will be seen in Apple Original Films’ F1, set to premiere in theaters globally on June 25, 2025.
The series is developed and produced through Antosca’s overall deal at UCP. Antosca, a big fan of both Cape Fear movies since childhood, approached Universal about adapting the property through UCP where he has been based for the past eight years, most recently as an executive producer on the USA/Syfy/UCP series Chucky, based on the popular horror movie franchise.
The 1991 Cape Fear remake was originally developed by Spielberg, while Scorsese had been working on Schindler’s List. The two greats ended up swapping directing vehicles, with Spielberg remaining involved in Cape Fear through his company Amblin Entertainment.
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