Zal Batmanglij To Direct Brit Marling Netflix TV Series ‘The OA’
Brit Marlingemerged as the darling of Sundance 2011 thanks in a large part toSound of My Voice, a chiller directed byZal Batmanglij. The pair continued their professional relationship with 2013’s eco-terrorism thrillerThe East, and now they’re preparing to reunite yet again.
Only this time, it won’t be for an indie film, but for a new Netflix drama titledThe OA. More on the Brit Marling Netflix project after the jump.
Netflix, Plan B Entertainment, and Anonymous Content announced the project today via press release.The OAwill consist of eight hourlong episodes to premiere on Netflix in 2016. Marling is starring, Batmanglij is directing, and both are writing and executive producing. Plot details are being kept under tight wraps for now.
Even aside from Marling and Batmanglij,The OAhas serious pedigree. Also serving as executive producers will be Plan B’sDede GardnerandJeremy Kleiner(who won Oscars for12 Years a Slave) and Anonymous Content’sMichael Sugar(True Detective,The Knick).
Marling broke through in 2011 with the one-two punch ofSound of My VoiceandAnother Earth, both of which she co-wrote, produced, and starred in. But she hasn’t quite hit superstardom, since she’s stuck mostly to indies likeArbitrage,The Company You Keep, andI Origins.
Both Marling and Batmanglij are coming off of recent TV gigs. Marling led Danny Boyle’s dramedy seriesBabylon, while Batmanglij has directed two episodes of Fox’s upcoming M. Night Shyamalan-produced seriesWayward Pines.
The news comes at a busy time for Netflix. The streaming service has just released Season 3 of its political thrillerHouse of Cards, and has the Tina Fey-created comedyThe Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidtslated to debut this weekend.Earlier this week, it picked up the filmBeasts of No Nation, directed by Cary Fukunaga and starring Idris Elba.
