Series adaptation of novel Helltown in development at Amazon

Newbie Oscar winner Edward Berger, director, co-writer and producer of All Quiet On the Western Front, is ready to direct and executive produce Helltown. Helltown is an eight-part crime thriller series in development at Amazon Studios from Mohamad El Masri (Severance), Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey's Team Downey. The story revolves around Kurt Vonnegut before he was a famous author and cultural lightning rod. In 1969, Kurt was a struggling writer and car salesman living on Cape Cod with his wife and five children. When two women disappear and are later found murdered beneath the sand dunes on the outskirts of Provincetown, Kurt becomes obsessed and embroiled in the chilling hunt for a serial killer, forming a dangerous bond with the prime suspect.



Oscar Isaac (pictured, Marvel's Moon Knight) is in talks to star as Kurt Vonnegut and produce the project, based on Casey Sherman's book of the same name. The series is written by El Masri, who also serves as an executive producer and showrunner.

Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey and Amanda Burrell executive produce for Team Downey, Isaac would executive produce with Gena Konstantinakos through his Mad Gene banner, who would co-produce with Team Downey and Amazon Studios. Sherman also produces.

Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front received nine Oscar nominations and won four trophies, a historic number for a German film, including Best International Feature Film, Best Production Design, Best Music (Original Score) and Best Cinematography.



Berger (pictured) also won Best Direction at the BAFTAs where All Quiet took home top categories including Best Film, Best Non-English Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Sound. On the series front, Berger won a BAFTA in 2019 for miniseries Patrick Melrose. His television credits also include Your Honor (US), The Terror and Deutschland 83.

Isaac, who recently starred in Disney+ series Marvel's Moon Knight, was nominated for a SAG and Emmy award last year for HBO's Scenes From a Marriage (US). Isaac launched Mad Gene in 2019 with his wife, writer and director Elvira Lind. The company's first project, the short film The Letter Room was nominated for an Academy Award in 2021.

El Masri is a co-executive producer for Apple TV+'s Severance, which is currently in production for its second season. His other series credits include HBO's Here and Now (2018).

Sherman is a best-selling author of 17 books, including The Finest Hours, which was made into a 2016 film by Disney starring Chris Pine and Casey Affleck, and Patriots Day, which was made into a 2016 film by CBS Films starring Mark Wahlberg.

Team Downey's Netflix documentary Sr., about the life and career of filmmaker Robert Downey Sr., won the 2022 National Board of Review Best Documentary Award. Season two of the HBO series Perry Mason (2020) is now airing. Upcoming is the second season of Netflix's Sweet Tooth and the new HBO/A24 series The Sympathizer. The company is also in the post-production of Downey's Dream Cars for Discovery+.

On the film side, Team Downey produces Play Dirty, the first project in its partnership with Amazon Studios to develop a series of film and television projects based on Donald E. Westlake's Parker series of crime novels.