'Homicide' Team Goes on a 'Manhunt'

Zap2It.com | September 16, 2008

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David Simon, Tom Fontana reunite for HBO miniseries

David Simon and Tom Fontana, who worked the "Homicide" beat for NBC in the 1990s, will team up again for a miniseries project at HBO.

The two writers will combine forces for "Manhunt," which tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865 and the 12-day search for the president's killer, John Wilkes Booth. It's based on the best-selling 2006 book by James L. Swanson.

HBO first approached Simon about turning the book into a miniseries, Broadcasting & Cable reports. Simon in turn suggested bringing in Fontana, a history buff who says he has "hundreds of books" about Lincoln's assassination.

Fontana and Simon say their take on the story will focus on less on Lincoln and Booth than on the lesser-known people who played roles in the search for Booth, which finally ended with Union soldiers burning the barn where he was hiding and then shooting Booth as he emerged from the burning building.

Fontana and Simon first worked together when Fontana used Simon's book "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" into the 1993-99 NBC series "Homicide." Fontana went on to create "Oz" for HBO; his recent credits also include "The Jury" and "The Bedford Diaries."

Simon's work with HBO also includes "The Wire" and the miniseries "The Corner" and "Generation Kill," which aired this summer. He's also developing a New Orleans-set series called "Treme" for the cable network.
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