‘Helltown’: Oscar Isaac Eyes Kurt Vonnegut Role In Amazon Series From ‘All Quiet’ Director Edward Berger

It’s been a big couple of days for All Quiet On the Western Front director Edward Berger. Over the weekend, he became an Oscar-winning filmmaker after his war drama won Best International Feature, along with numerous other awards. And now he’s signed on for a new Amazon series, Helltown, that will have a lot more attention on it now than it might’ve just a week ago.

Deadline reports that Berger will direct and produce the Amazon series, Helltown, an adaptation of Casey Sherman’s novel. And Berger appears to already have his leading man as Oscar Isaac is in talks to star. Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey are aboard as producers, as well. The series will be written, produced, and showrun by Mohamad El Masri, known for the hit Apple TV+ show Severance.

If he signs on, Isaac will play celebrated author Kurt Vonnegut, before he became famous, and is instead trying to support his family in Cape Code as a car salesman and struggling writer. When women are murdered in a series of attacks, Vonnegut becomes obsessed with discovering the killer.

Both Berger and Isaac have substantial TV experience already, the former on Patrick Melrose and the latter on Moon Knight and HBO’s Scenes from a Marriage.

Look for this to be a major prestige project for Prime Video whenever it drops.

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.