A series based on Frank Sinatra’s life is in development at Netflix. The project has the support of Frank Sinatra Enterprises and the Chairman of the Board’s daughter Tina Sinatra is an executive producer. Dreamgirls director Bill Condon has signed on to write and direct the pilot.
Condon, an Oscar-winner for his Gods and Monsters screenplay, will serve as showrunner for the series, reports Deadline. Lionsgate Television and Universal Music Group’s Polygram Entertainment are the studios behind the show. Bib Finkelstein and Tina are executive producers via Frank Sinatra Enterprises. Other executive producers on the project include Condon’s producing partner Greg Yolen; Michele Anthony, Bruce Resnikoff, and David Blackman via Polygram; and Jack Morrisey.
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The series is billed as the “definitive bio-series” about Sinatra, but it’s not clear if this will be a birth-to-death project or about a specific time in his life. There are plenty of stories in Sinatra’s life to choose from. The filmmakers could focus on his relationships with some of Hollywood’s brightest stars, his alleged Mafia ties that the FBI investigated, or his Rat Pack days. Sinatra was previously the subject of the 1992 miniseries Sinatra, starring Philip Casnoff as Ol’ Blue Eyes. Martin Scorsese also had plans to develop a biopic, but he ran into disagreements with the Sinatra family that derailed the movie.
The news comes just a few days after Tina attended the unveiling of a new statue of her father in his hometown of Hoboken, New Jersey. On Sunday, the city marked the 106th anniversary of Sinatra’s birth by showing off the statue designed by sculptor Carolyn Palmer. “It was in his blood, his childhood in Hoboken, I assure you of that,” Tina said at the event. “Just know that you can take the boy out of the neighborhood, but you can never take the neighborhood out of the boy – never.”
Condon is an interesting choice for the project, as he has experience with both musicals and biopics. He won the 1998 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Gods and Monsters, which told a fictionalized version of Frankenstein director James Whale’s last days. His other biopics include Kinsey (2004), about Alfred Charlies Kinsey; and The Fifth Estate (2013), which centered on Julian Assange. He also wrote the screenplays to Chicago (2002) and The Greatest Showman (2017), and directed Dreamgirls (2006). He also directed Disney’s 2017 remake of Beauty and the Beast and directed the last two Twilight movies. His next project is a remake of Guys and Dolls, which Sinatra coincidentally made in 1955.
