Ben Stiller to Helm Prison Escape Series with Benicio Del Toro and Patricia Arquette
Showtime is known for great drama series like Homeland and Ray Donovan, and now the premium network is close to ordering Ben Stiller’s Escape At Clinton Correctional. Stiller is set as an executive producer and is expected to direct all eight episodes of the limited series. Deadline says Benicio del Toro and Patricia Arquette are still in negotiations for their roles, but are expected to make deals.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that the series is based on a true prison break that took place in upstate New York during the summer of 2015:
"...the real-life story of Richard Matt and David Sweat, two inmates who were discovered missing at the maximum security Clinton Correction Facility in New York after being aided in their escape by a married female prison employee with whom they both became sexually entangled."
Del Toro will play one of the prisoners, while Arquette, the woman who supervises the prison tailor shop and assisted the inmates in their escape.
The series sounds like a departure from Stiller's previous directing credits, Tropic Thunder, Zoolander 2 and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.