Albert Hughes is stepping into the director’s chair of the upcoming Showtime limited series “The Good Lord Bird,” Variety has learned exclusively.
Hughes takes over directing multiple episodes of the series from Anthony Hemingway, who departed the project due to scheduling conflicts. Hughes, who will also executive produce the series, will make his television directing debut on “The Good Lord Bird.”
“Albert Hughes is an incredible addition to ‘The Good Lord Bird,’” said Gary Levine, president of entertainment for Showtime. “We are so pleased to meld Albert’s intelligence, talent and perspective with the remarkable creative team that is adapting James McBride’s wildly imaginative and profound novel into a singular Showtime limited series.”
The series is based on the novel of the same name by James McBride, and will star Ethan Hawke as 19th-century abolitionist John Brown. Hawke is also slated to co-write and executive produce the project alongside author and producer Mark Richard. It is told from the point of view of Onion, an enslaved teenager who becomes a member in Brown’s motley family during the time of Bleeding Kansas, eventually participating in the famous 1859 raid on the Army depot at Harpers Ferry. Brown’s raid failed to initiate the slave revolt he intended, but was the instigating event that started the Civil War.
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Hughes and his brother Allen exploded onto the feature scene with their films “Menace II Society” and “Dead Presidents,” both of which the brothers wrote the story for and co-directed. Their other credits include “From Hell,” “The Book of Eli,” and the documentary “American Pimp.” Albert directed the film “Alpha” in 2018, which was his first solo feature.
He is repped by CAA.
“The Good Lord Bird” is executive produced by Hawke, McBride, Richard, Hughes, Jason Blum, Brian Taylor, Ryan Hawke, David Schiff, Jeremy Gold, Marci Wiseman, and Marshall Persinger.