After Martin Scorsese‘s hilarious appearance in “The Studio,” as he was set to direct a fictional “Kool-Aid” movie that would act as an entry point for his faux passion project about the Jonestown Massacre, a real version has sprouted in the form of a series, and it has Bill Hader behind it.
Variety reports that Hader is looking to reunite with HBO after his acclaimed hitman comedy “Barry” became a sensation and allowed Hader to become an auteur after working on comedic television like “SNL” and “South Park.” The in-demand creative, who hasn’t been terribly open about future projects after “Barry,” is said to be co-writing the untitled HBO series with Daniel Zelman (“Bloodlines,” “Damages”) and is being eyed to star as the infamous cult leader Jim Jones.
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The term “drink the Kool-Aid” refers to Jones convincing his flock at the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project (known as Jonestown) in Guyana to drink poison, leading to one of the biggest mass murders in history, as more than 900 followers died in the event that took place in 1978.
This isn’t the first time HBO has been interested in a Jim Jones series, as “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” creator Vince Gilligan was once developing his own version of Jonestown back in 2016, but it ultimately didn’t move forward. It remains to be seen if any of that previous material from Gilligan will be folded into this new incarnation, influence it, or even what the tone will be.
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Jonestown is one of the biggest cautionary tales about people being allowed to be brainwashed by charismatic religious or political figures, and it feels more relevant than ever with the rise of populism and fascism across the globe.
