(March 15, 2016 – Montréal, Québec) It is one of the most successful mini-series every produced in Canada and now this city’s Muse Entertainment is looking for a follow-up hit. The first series was the 8-hour historical drama The Kennedys, which sold to networks around the world and earned 10 Emmy Award nominations, winning four, as well as the DGA award for best director. Now Matthew Perry will star as Ted Kennedy in The Kennedys: After Camelot, a new four-hour mini-series that will begin filming in Toronto, this spring.
Based on the New York Times best seller, “After Camelot: A Personal History of the Kennedy Family 1968 to the Present” by best-selling author and biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, the new series will premiere in the U.S. on REELZ in spring 2017. Matthew Perry will also serve as an executive producer.
Perry will portray Ted Kennedy in the years following the assassinations of his brothers Jack and Bobby. The story follows his very complicated public and private life as he tries to live up to the Kennedy family political ambition and fill a male leadership void in the family itself. Perry joins Katie Holmes, portraying Jackie Kennedy Onassis, who despite her desire for privacy had arguably become the most famous and admired woman in the world. Jackie’s ties to the Kennedy family remained strong throughout her life and her relationship with her brother-in-law Ted grew ever closer as they constantly turned to one another for support and as confidantes.
“We are privileged to have an actor of Matthew Perry’s stature and ability take on the role of such a complex and controversial figure as Ted Kennedy,” said Executive Producer Michael Prupas, president of Muse Entertainment. “Matthew Perry and Katie Holmes will fascinate audiences around the world as they bring these two famous Americans to life.”
“As the REELZ brand has evolved to tell the real stories of celebrities’ lives there’s no bigger celebrity family than the Kennedys and we’re proud to continue this amazing and dramatic story that began with The Kennedys miniseries,” said Stan E. Hubbard, CEO of REELZ. “The Kennedys have inspired more movies, books, TV shows and documentaries than any other American family.”
Perry is currently starring on stage in London’s West End in The End of Longing, a play which is his playwriting debut. The second season of the CBS comedy, The Odd Couple, in which Perry (pictured above) stars and serves as executive producer, premieres April 7.
The Kennedys:After Camelot project was brought to Muse Entertainment by Keri Selig of Intuition Productions (The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe) who serves as an executive producer. Jon Cassar (The Kennedys) and Katie Holmes are directing from scripts by Stephen Kronish (The Kennedys) and Sandra Chwialkowska (Lost Girl). Holmes also serves as an executive producer.
