Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them actor Colin Farrell is reuniting with Yorgos Lanthimos, his director from last year’s The Lobster, for an upcoming and untitled Amazon Studios limited series about the Iran-Contra scandal. Enzo Mileti and Scott Wilson are writing the still-in-development series, with Ben Stiller and Nicky Weinstock executive producing for Red Hour Films.
The scandal, one of the biggest in American political history, occurred during Reagan’s second term and involved the U.S. sale of arms to Iran and thereby fund Contras in Nicaragua and secure the release of U.S. hostages.
Farrell will star as Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, a member of the National Security Council during the affair. North was primarily active in the second part of the scandal, advocating for the support of the Contras even though it went directly against the Boland Amendment. Now he’s a political commentator and host on Fox News.
This is not the first project Farrell and Lanthimos as teaming up on following The Lobster as they recently finished the A24 film The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Beyond that, Farrell will appear in Sofia Coppola’s new film The Beguiled and he’s the narrator of the upcoming documentary It’s Not Yet Dark. He’s also in pre-production on Inner City, in which he’ll co-star with Denzel Washington. He’s represented by CAA and LBI Entertainment.
Lanthimos is currently filming the period drama The Favorite starring Emma Stone, Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Nicholas Hoult. On the small screen, he will also be directing and executive producing the AMC series On Becoming a God in Central Florida. He’s repped by CAA, Sayle Screen in the U.K., and LBI Entertainment.
Anya Crittenton | Associate Editor
This news was first reported by Variety.