David Simon says he was first approached to adapt Phillip Roth’s The Plot Against America shortly after the 2012 election — but he didn’t think the novel, an alternate history in which Charles Lindbergh rides an isolationist and antisemitic wave to defeat Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, was timely.
“I enjoyed the novel. It’s a nice little artifact, but it had its moment,” said Simon, recalling his initial reaction on Wednesday morning. “How wrong was I?”
The Plot Against America debuts as a six-part limited series on HBO, starting Mar. 16, and the Wire and Treme writer credits the xenophobic political movements in the United States and abroad as the sole reason the adaptation is finally happening. “Antisemitism is resurgent in America, and great effort is being made to define people as ‘less American,’” Simon continued, addressing members of the Television Critics Association. “The rise of xenophobia and fear of the other, that’s the reason this got made. The piece is incredibly relevant.”
Speaking alongside cast of the project, which depicts a 1940s America drifting towards fascism, Simon’s panel got especially interesting when star Zoe Kazan was asked, in so many words, how she felt about her late grandfather Elia Kazan — particularly his revealing names of the Hollywood blacklist while testifying in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1952.
“I enjoyed the novel. It’s a nice little artifact, but it had its moment,” said Simon, recalling his initial reaction on Wednesday morning. “How wrong was I?”
The Plot Against America debuts as a six-part limited series on HBO, starting Mar. 16, and the Wire and Treme writer credits the xenophobic political movements in the United States and abroad as the sole reason the adaptation is finally happening. “Antisemitism is resurgent in America, and great effort is being made to define people as ‘less American,’” Simon continued, addressing members of the Television Critics Association. “The rise of xenophobia and fear of the other, that’s the reason this got made. The piece is incredibly relevant.”
Speaking alongside cast of the project, which depicts a 1940s America drifting towards fascism, Simon’s panel got especially interesting when star Zoe Kazan was asked, in so many words, how she felt about her late grandfather Elia Kazan — particularly his revealing names of the Hollywood blacklist while testifying in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1952.
The Plot Against America debuts as a six-part limited series on HBO, starting Mar. 16, and the Wire and Treme writer credits the xenophobic political movements in the United States and abroad as the sole reason the adaptation is finally happening. “Antisemitism is resurgent in America, and great effort is being made to define people as ‘less American,’” Simon continued, addressing members of the Television Critics Association. “The rise of xenophobia and fear of the other, that’s the reason this got made. The piece is incredibly relevant.”
Speaking alongside cast of the project, which depicts a 1940s America drifting towards fascism, Simon’s panel got especially interesting when star Zoe Kazan was asked, in so many words, how she felt about her late grandfather Elia Kazan — particularly his revealing names of the Hollywood blacklist while testifying in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1952.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter