Audrey Hepburn TV Series to Be Penned By ‘Good Wife’ Writer Jacqueline Hoyt (EXCLUSIVE)
U.S. writer-producer Jacqueline Hoyt (“The Good Wife”) is set to pen drama series “Audrey” about Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn, which is being produced by Italy’s Wildside, the Fremantle company behind “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend.”
The previously announced series on Audrey Hepburn‘s life is based on a treatment co-written by her son Luca Dotti and Italian journalist and writer Luigi Spinola. Dotti’s father was Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, whom Hepburn married in 1970 and divorced 10 years later.
The Oscar-winning actor was one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces of the 20th century and was celebrated for her charm and elegance in such films as “Sabrina,” “Roman Holiday,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “My Fair Lady.” But her life has not yet been portrayed in a high-end skein for the global marketplace.
Jacqueline Hoyt has written and produced for “CSI,” “The Good Wife,” HBO’s Peabody Award-winning series “The Leftovers,” and, most recently, with Barry Jenkins for his upcoming adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Underground Railroad” for Amazon Prime Video.
Dotti and Spinola co-authored the 2015 bestseller “Audrey at Home,” a part-biography, part-cookbook combining anecdotes, excerpts from Hepburn’s correspondence, her recipes and unpublished family photographs.
In the book, “Luca and Luigi explored the singularity of Audrey’s real self,” a Wildside statement said, noting that “the muse, the mother and the later humanitarian all closely relate to a girl that never stopped to be amazed by the gift of life.”
Their research has now gone deeper, in particular when it comes to Hepburn’s “formative years,” which the series will explore, the statement added. No further details are being disclosed.
Hepburn revolutionized movie glamour with inspired film performances and an understated allure that brought a unique level of class and grace to Hollywood. “With her penchant for couture, she became a groundbreaking style icon in an era of sexpot starlets, melding some of the screen’s most memorable characters with her own regal charm and sophistication,” as a Variety profile put it.
Among her honors were an Oscar for “Roman Holiday,” an Emmy, a Grammy, a Tony, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She died in 1993 at 63 after a battle with cancer.
The “Audrey” series will be executive produced by Wildside CEO Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa with Ludovica Damiani, who originated and shepherded the project. Luca Dotti and Luigi Spinola will also serve as executive producers.
“For ‘Audrey’ our goal is once again to produce a show that is born locally to deliver globally,” said Fremantle COO Andrea Scrosati. “The creative team assembled by Wildside and the IP are perfectly positioned to make this happen,” he added.
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