A limited series about late actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr, with Gal Gadot playing the lead role, has landed at Apple.
The tech giant has given a straight-to-series order to Hedy Lamarr. The eight-episode drama, originally set up at Showtime, will air on Apple TV+, with The Affair co-creator Sarah Treem writing and executive producing. Gadot is also an executive producer.
The project has been in the works for some time, with Showtime’s Gary Levine saying in August 2018 that “we would be very happy” to have the show. It never received a formal order, however, allowing Apple to snap it up.
Hedy Lamarr will track the life of the actress once dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world,” spanning 30 years from her daring escape from pre-war Vienna to her meteoric rise in the Golden Age of Hollywood and her fall and eventual disgrace at the dawn of the Cold War. The series is described as an epic tale of an immigrant woman both ahead of her time and very much victim to it.
It also will delve into Lamarr’s contributions as an inventor; she and her friend, composer George Antheil, patented a frequency-hopping system during World War II that presaged Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology. Lamarr and Antheil were inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.
Treem departed Showtime for an overall deal at Fox 21 late last year, following the end of The Affair after five seasons. In December, a Hollywood Reporter story detailed allegations from former Affair star Ruth Wilson that she departed the series after season four due to a toxic on-set environment. Treem denied the allegations.
The idea for the new series originated with Gadot and her husband and producing partner, Jason Varsano. They will executive produce via their Pilot Wave company, along with Treem, Warren Littlefield and Katie Robbins. Alexandra Dean, who directed Bombshell, a 2017 documentary about Lamarr, and that film’s producer Adam Haggiag will be co-producers; Lamarr’s children Anthony Loder and Denise Deluca will consult. Endeavor Content is producing.
Hedy Lamarr will join a lineup of Apple TV+ originals that includes the limited series Defending Jacob, The Shrink Next Door and Lisey’s Story, plus ongoing shows The Morning Show, Little America, See, Home Before Dark, Little Voice and Central Park, among others.
