A pair of French production companies, Païva Films and Mirador Pictures, have boarded an untitled spy series created by Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz, the co-writers of Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman.”
Starting with Fidel Castro’s victory in January 1959, the series will depict the secret war between Cuban intelligence, the KGB, the CIA and the mafia, through the unfolding of Operation Mongoose, one of the more secretive intelligence operations in American history. Wachtel and Rabinowitz said in a statement that the show would be “about those conversations held behind closed doors at the highest levels of government.”
“These are the conversations that the public never hears, the conversations that alter the course of history. We want to delve into the spy-thriller intrigue, the politics, and the absurdities of Operation Mongoose by telling the story from multiple perspectives: the U.S. government, Castro and his revolutionaries, the CIA, and the Cuban exiles in Miami,” Wachtel and Rabinowitz said.
“Growing up on Oliver Stone films, we always admired how his movies challenged the way history was told,” they added. “That’s what excites us most about this project.”
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Paul Nicolas Loesch, who is co-producing through his newly launched banner, Mirador Pictures, said they’ve had contact with former operatives who were active during the Cold War, and described the show as a “backstage pass to the CIA’s secret programs, starting in Latin America.”
Simon Istolainen, who is producing the series through his company Païva Films, said it would “underline what remains of ideology and propaganda which have killed millions of people throughout history,” and would “show the failure of these ideologies during the Cold War.”
“We are from Edward Snowden’s generation, and what we want to show is the ‘off the record’ part of history and what is written between the lines of official reports,” said Istolainen, who recently produced the Netflix Original movie “The Angel,” which rolled out globally earlier this month.
A director, cast, partners and network for Wachtel and Rabinowitz’s untitled series will soon be announced.
Rabinowitz and Wachtel are represented by WME and Jennifer Levy of Behr Abramson Levy.