Deadline reports that Brian D'Arcy James will star opposite Dylan Minnette, Katherine Langford and Kate Walsh in Netflix's 13-episode series 13 REASONS WHY. The project is created and adapted by Brian Yorkey, the Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist of NEXT TO NORMAL, a play in which D'Arcy James starred in off-Broadway and later, on Broadway. Tom McCarthy will direct.
The TV adaptation is based on 2007 New York Times bestselling YA book by Jay Asher, which centers on "a boy named Clay (Minnette) through an emotional night when he receives a shoe box of cassette tapes from his late classmate and crush Hannah (Langford), following her recent suicide. On the tapes, which are mailed with instructions to pass along from one student to another, Hannah explains to 12 peers how they each played a role in her death, by giving 13 reasons explaining why she took her life."
D'Arcy James will play Hannah's father, described as "a pharmacist and small-business owner who deals with his daughter's death by throwing himself into his work and trying to keep his store alive in the face of competition all while dealing with he and his wife's over the loss of their daughter."
13 Reasons Why will reunite D'Arcy James with director McCarthy, who cast him in the 2016 Oscar-winning film SPOTLIGHT.
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BWW reported yesterday, D'Arcy James has also been cast in the Civil War-themed pilot CIVIL from TNT. He appeared in this year's Academy Award-winning Best Picture SPOTLIGHT and most recently appeared on Broadway in SOMETHING ROTTEN! for which he received a Tony nomination. The actor has also appeared on the small screen in MOZART IN THE JUNGLE, LAW & ORDER: SVU, SMASH, THE GOOD WIFE, PERSON OF INTEREST, RESCUE ME and more. Among his past Broadway credits are MACBETH, TIME STANDS STILL, NEXT TO NORMAL, SHREK THE MUSICAL, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, TITANIC, CAROUSEL and BLOOD BROTHERS.
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