HBO Developing THE LOBOTOMIST as a Series with Red Director Robert Schwentke
Another TV series idea that I wanted to see happen is now happening over at HBO with Red director Robert Schwentke attached to develop the pilot episode. The new series is called The Lobotomist which will be based on the insane work of Walter Freeman who was best known for scrambling up peoples brains in an effort to make insane people sane through a technique known as a lobotomy. Freeman preformed his first pre-frontal lobotomy in 1936, and then in the 1940's he developed the famous trans-orbital "Ice Pick" lobotomy technique. This is where they went through the eye socket to destroy the frontal lobes of the brain.
Freeman may be one of the most controversial figures in American history for the work that he did. I've read several books about the man, and this was a very dark era in the history of America when it came to the way people were treated in these asylums. Not all of these people thrown into mental institutes were crazy, it also an easy way for people to push their problem children or spouses out of their lives when they couldn't deal with them anymore or they just wanted to escape them. As for Freeman, in four decades he personally performed as many as 3,400 lobotomy surgeries in 23 states, despite the fact that he had no formal surgical training. He only charged $25 for the procedure.
The series is based on the Jack El-Hai book The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness was brought to HBO by Shutter Island star Leonardo DiCaprio, producer Brad Fischer, and writer Laeta Kalogridis. They ended up picking up the rights to the book after reading it and will serve as producers on the series. Daneil Thomsen has been brought on board to write the script.
The book that the movie will be based off of is extremely interesting, and I actually recently got finished reading another book called My Lobotomy, which is a memoir written by former patient of Freeman named Howard Dully. In the book Dully shares his experiences leading up to his Lobotomy with Freeman when he was only 12 years old, and his long recovery afterwards. This is one of those cases where no lobotomy needed to be preformed. It was just a stepmom who didn't care for her stepson. It's really quite a sad story.
Variety says that the drama series will tell the "story of one man's quest to change the world through a new, experimental brain surgery. However, when this maverick doctor is willing to go to any lengths to achieve his goals, his life careens out of control -- from the highs of international recognition to the tabloids, with the history of mental health care, changed in his wake."
Here's a description of the book:
The Lobotomist explores one of the darkest chapters of American medicine: the desperate attempt to treat the hundreds of thousands of psychiatric patients in need of help during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Into this crisis stepped Walter Freeman, M.D., who saw a solution in lobotomy, a brain operation intended to reduce the severity of psychotic symptoms. Although many patients did not benefit from the thousands of lobotomies Freeman performed, others believed their lobotomies changed them for the better. Drawing on a rich collection of documents Freeman left behind and interviews with Freeman’s family, Jack El-Hai takes a penetrating look into the life of this complex scientific genius and traces the physician’s fascinating life and work.
I've done a lot of research on the history of mental health over the years, it's some that I've always been interested in for some reason. There's so much I would love to tell you about the history of this man an proceedure. I'm excited that HBO is developing this series, there's no doubt it my mind that it will be amazing. PBS also did a documentary on Wlater Freeman that is worth checking out if you get a chance. It's on Instant Netflix as part of their American Experience Series.
What are your thoughts on all this?