Peter Berg to Direct Damon Lindelof's HBO Pilot THE LEFTOVERS

Battleship director Peter Berg has been hired to produce and direct the pilot episode for Damon Lindelof's new HBO series The Leftovers. The series is an adaptation of Tom Perrotta's novel, which "revolves around the Rapture and follows a group of people who are left behind in the suburban community of Mapleton. They must begin to rebuild their lives after the sudden and mysterious disappearance of more than 100 people."

This sounds like it will be an interesting series, and I'm excited to see how it turns out. Berg is hit and miss for me as a director. I'm sure Lindelof will deliver a great story and script, so I'm sure this new series is going to turn out just fine. 

Here's the full description of the story from the book:

What if—whoosh, right now, with no explanation—a number of us simply vanished?  Would some of us collapse? Would others of us go on, one foot in front of the other, as we did before the world turned upside down?

That’s what the bewildered citizens of Mapleton, who lost many of their neighbors, friends and lovers in the event known as the Sudden Departure, have to figure out. Because nothing has been the same since it happened—not marriages, not friendships, not even the relationships between parents and children. 

Kevin Garvey, Mapleton’s new mayor, wants to speed up the healing process, to bring a sense of renewed hope and purpose to his traumatized community. Kevin’s own family has fallen apart in the wake of the disaster: his wife, Laurie, has left to join the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown cult whose members take a vow of silence; his son, Tom, is gone, too, dropping out of college to follow a sketchy prophet named Holy Wayne.  Only Kevin’s teenaged daughter, Jill, remains, and she’s definitely not the sweet “A” student she used to be.  Kevin wants to help her, but he’s distracted by his growing relationship with Nora Durst, a woman who lost her entire family on October 14th and is still reeling from the tragedy, even as she struggles to move beyond it and make a new start.

With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta has written a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and loss.

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