HBO Developing Adaptation Of Alex Marzano-Lesnevich’s Memoir ‘The Fact Of A Body’ With Jeremiah Zagar & Melissa Bernstein

Alex Marzano-Lesnevich’s memoir The Fact Of A Body is heading for the small screen after HBO put an adaptation in development.

Jeremiah Zagar, whose film We The Animals premiered at Sundance in 2018, is co-writing and directing the limited series adaptation.

The series is centered around a young lawyer, whose opposition to the death penalty is shaken when she’s assigned the case of a child murderer whose complicated life story parallels the long-suppressed trauma of her past.

The book won a slew of awards when it was published by Macmillan in 2018 including the Lambda Literary Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the Grand Prix des Lectrices ELLE, the Prix des libraires du Quebec, and the Prix France Inter-JDD.

It tells the story of a Ricky Langley, a pedophile and child murderer in Louisiana, who killed and likely molested a six-year-old boy in 1992, and Marzano-Lesnevich, who as a 25-year old intern at the law firm that defended Langley wanted Langley to die after watching his videotaped confession, despite being staunchly anti-death penalty.

Zagar, who is working with Adam Sandler on his next film Hustle, is exec producing alongside his Public Record co-founder Jeremy Yaches, with Breaking Bad exec producer Melissa Bernstein also exec producing for Special Interests.

Jeremiah Zagar said, “I am honored that Alex has entrusted me with this material. As a fan of the book, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to bring such a powerful and profound story to life.”

Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, whose next book Both and Neither is coming soon, added, “I’ve long been an admirer of Jeremiah’s work, particularly his visually-driven, haunting approach to storytelling. This is a dream pairing to me. I can’t wait to see the story come to life in his hands.”

Jeremiah Zagar and Jeremy Yaches are represented by WME, Dan Janvey of Untitled Entertainment and Andre Des Rochers of Granderson Des Rochers, Melissa Bernstein is represented by CAA and Tara Kole of Gang Tyre and Alex Marzano-Lesnevich is represented by PJ Mark of Janklow & Nesbit Associates.