Kevin Costner Looking to Play Bill Clinton in New United Nations Drama Series UNITED
A new prestige TV project is taking shape, and it brings together two Hollywood heavyweights. Kevin Costner and Leonardo DiCaprio are teaming up to executive produce a series titled United, a drama rooted in the real UN mission to East Timor in 1999.
Costner is also negotiating to star as former President Bill Clinton, with Chukwudi Iwuji circling the role of Kofi Annan.
United is being developed in collaboration with the United Nations and looks to explore the human stories behind the organization’s most intense and meaningful missions. The series is written and will be directed by David Raymond, known for Night Hunter.
Raymond has spent years working with the UN’s Creative Community Outreach Initiative, developing stories that spotlight moments of shared humanity across global crises. The show is envisioned as an ongoing anthology of sorts, each chapter dramatizing the bravery and sacrifice of real UN humanitarian personnel.
The first storyline dives into the pivotal events in East Timor in 1999 following a UN-organized referendum on independence. Once a Portuguese colony, East Timor endured decades of repression after being annexed by Indonesia in 1975.
By the late ‘90s, the region was finally given the opportunity to vote on its future. The United Nations established UNAMET, the United Nations Mission in East Timor, to oversee the referendum. Despite intense intimidation from Indonesian-backed militias, voter turnout was massive.
When the results showed overwhelming support for independence, violence erupted across the territory, with militia groups launching brutal attacks that claimed at least 1,400 lives and destroyed vital infrastructure.
With Indonesia unable or unwilling to stop the escalating violence, the international community turned to the UN for intervention. An Australian-led peacekeeping force entered the region to stabilize the crisis, eventually guiding East Timor toward full sovereignty.
Elections followed, a constitution was drafted, and by May 2002 East Timor emerged as an independent nation. President Clinton and his administration were deeply involved in international efforts to de-escalate the conflict after the referendum, working with Australia, Portugal and other nations aligned with the UN.
Across Catner’s career, he has stepped into the shoes of several historical figures including Eliot Ness in The Untouchables, the legendary lawman in Wyatt Earp and Jim Garrison in JFK. More recently, he’s been invested in his massive Western saga Horizon: An American Saga, where he serves as director, co-writer, producer and star.
Costner also became a household name again through the cultural phenomenon Yellowstone, and he’ll soon appear in the Amazon MGM Studios dramedy Honeymoon with Harry opposite Jake Gyllenhaal.
If finalized, Iwuji would portray Kofi Annan, who served as UN Secretary General during this turbulent period. Iwuji has been on a roll, with television work in Peacemaker, Evil, and The Day of the Jackal, as well as film roles in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Play Dirty and the upcoming Moses the Black.
United will be produced by Appian Way, Onwards Studios and Prime Focus DNEG, with plans to shoot next year in Atlanta and Spain. The collaboration between DiCaprio’s Appian Way and the UN signals a project that aims to balance dramatic storytelling with authenticity and respect for the real events being depicted.
If you’re a fan of historical dramas and politically charged storytelling, you should definitely keep this developing project on your radar.
Source: Deadline