Ebola has become a disease to look out for, and if there is anything that Hollywood can get from a dangerous outbreak, it's to make more money by doing a film or television series of it, but bigger and scarier.
That's exactly what Ridley Scott is thinking because according to E! Online, the director / producer is teaming up with Lynda Obst for a limited series for FoxTV.
The series will be based on a 1994 best-seller book by Richard Preston, called "The Hot Zone."
Even though Ebola only recently made news again, E! Online said that Obst and Scott have already been working on the project for a while: they optioned the rights to the book over two decades ago. With the current outbreak being as deadly as it ever has been, the project took priority based on its timeliness. After all, the disease, which has become widespread in West Africa and caused thousands of deaths, has already reached U.S. shores. Thomas Eric Duncan who came to the States from Liberia has already died from the disease, and two of his nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, have also tested positive for Ebola.
Obst told The Hollywood Reporter, "I think it's the speed with which it kills that makes the disease so frightening. People hoped it would stay in some remote part of the world. But that's a fantasy in the modern world. The modern world makes us one big connected family."
The show was initially conceived as a project for Scoot with 20th Century Fox starring Jodie foster, but there has been no update regarding the cast yet.
Preston, who is writing a piece about the disease for the New Yorker magazine, has given the pair inside track on his article and has been working with them for the limited series for the past year. Together, they will also be working with David Zucker and Jim Hart, who wrote the original screenplay for the project they had in mind, potentially titled "Crisis In the Hot Zone."
But why change the planned film to a limited series instead? Obst explained, saying that "A limited series is a great way to do this because you don't have to limit it to a three-act structure like you do with a film."
Do you think Scott and Obst's idea is a good and timely one, or is it too early to do a series based on the very real disease that is causing panic in the U.S.?
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