Matthew Rhys To Star in Title Role of HBO’s "Perry Mason" Limited Series from Team Downey
by Nellie Andreeva and Denise Petski
January 14, 2019


Emmy-winning former "The Americans" star Matthew Rhys has been tapped for the lead in "Perry Mason", HBO’s limited series from Team Downey.

Rhys will play the classic character in the reboot, which tracks the unorthodox investigator/defense attorney’s origin story. "Perry Mason" is in the process of hiring a director, and once a helmer is on board, the series is expected to head into production.





Written and executive produced by Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald, who also will showrun, the re-imagined "Perry Mason" is set in 1932 Los Angeles. While the rest of the country recovers from the Great Depression, this city is booming! Oil! Olympic Games! Talking Pictures! Evangelical Fervor! And a child kidnapping gone very, very wrong!

Based on characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner, the limited series follows the origins of American Fiction’s most legendary criminal defense lawyer, Perry Mason (Rhys). When the case of the decade breaks down his door, Mason’s relentless pursuit of the truth reveals a fractured city and just maybe, a pathway to redemption for himself.

Rhys, who also will produce, is Perry Mason at a time in his life when he is living check-to-check as a low-rent private investigator. Mason is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and is suffering the effects of a broken marriage.





The project was originally set up at HBO in 2016, with Nic Pizzolatto writing and Robert Downey Jr. attached to play the title character.

But Pizzolatto turned his attention to the third installment of his HBO series "True Detective", with Jones and Ron Fitzgerald stepping in as writers, and it also became clear, because of Downey’s feature commitments, that he would be unable to act in the series, so a search began for an actor to play the title character.

https://deadline.com/2019/01/matthew-rhys-star-perry-mason-reboot-hbo-limited-origin-series-team-downey-1202534921/

Rhys, who also will produce, is Perry Mason at a time in his life when he is living check-to-check as a low-rent private investigator. Mason is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and is suffering the effects of a broken marriage.


So........ basically this is not Perry Mason at all. Perry was a LAWYER not a P.I. That's Paul's role. What war? WWI? 1932 is 14 years after WWI. I was interested in this when I first heard about it two years ago, but you can't make something called "Perry Mason" and he's not a criminal defense attorney. WTF?? That's the entire premise to the show and the books!

Also, Matthew Rhys is the original “smell the fart” actor. He’s terrible.

PASS!

HBO’s "Perry Mason" Limited Series Gets Green Light with Tim Van Patten Directing
by Nellie Andreeva and Denise Petski
March 22, 2019


Prolific TV director, writer and producer Tim Van Patten (Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones) has been tapped to direct and executive produce "Perry Mason", HBO’s limited series from Team Downey, starring Matthew Rhys in the title role.

The high-profile project had had a blinking green light, with a formal order contingent on hiring a director. With Van Patten, who has a long history at HBO, on board, "Perry Mason" is officially heading into production.




Written and executive produced by Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald, who also will showrun, the reimagined "Perry Mason" is set in 1932 Los Angeles. While the rest of the country recovers from the Great Depression, this city is booming! Oil! Olympic Games! Talking Pictures! Evangelical Fervor!

And a child kidnapping gone very, very wrong!




Based on characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner, the limited series follows the origins of American Fiction’s most legendary criminal defense lawyer, Perry Mason (Rhys). When the case of the decade breaks down his door, Mason’s relentless pursuit of the truth reveals a fractured city and just maybe, a pathway to redemption for himself.

Rhys also is a producer on the series. Robert and Susan Downey, who developed the project, executive produce along with Team Downey’s Amanda Burrell, and Joe Horaceck.

https://deadline.com/2019/03/hbo-perry-mason-limited-series-green-light-tim-van-patten-direct-team-downey-mathew-rhys-1202580838/

Tatiana Maslany Joins HBO's "Perry Mason" Limited-Series
by Nellie Andreeva and Denise Petski
April 12, 2019


Former "Orphan Black" star Tatiana Maslany is set for a lead role opposite Matthew Rhys in "Perry Mason", HBO limited series from Team Downey.

Maslany will play Sister Alice, a rare sight – the leader of the Radiant Assembly of God, preaching three sermons a day (21 a week!) to a hungry congregation and a radio audience that spans the country. Entertainer, politician, God’s conduit to the City of Angels, Sister Alice wields great power when she speaks, and plans to use it in ways only she can know.

https://deadline.com/2019/04/tatiana-maslany-hbo-perry-mason-limited-series-team-downey-matthew-rhys-1202594604/

John Lithgow To Star in HBO’s "Perry Mason" Limited Series
by Denise Petski
May 7, 2019


John Lithgow is set for a lead role opposite Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany in "Perry Mason", HBO’s limited series from Team Downey.

Lithgow will play Elias Birchard “E.B.” Jonathan, a personal attorney at the nadir of his career and a semi-regular employer of private investigator Mason. A mentor and a father figure to Mason, E.B. is handed the kind of case he hasn’t seen in years: a high-profile parallel investigation to the LAPD involving a child kidnapping.

https://deadline.com/2019/05/john-lithgow-hbo-perry-mason-limited-series-team-downey-1202608975/

This doesn't even sound like Perry Mason.

HBO's Perry Mason rounds out its cast with Shea Whigham, Chris Chalk, Nate Corddry and Lili Taylor (https://deadline.com/2019/06/perry-mason-chris-chalk-shea-whigham-nate-corddry-cast-hbo-limited-series-1202639489/)

They're among seven new additions joining Matthew Rhys in the reimagined Perry Mason limited series set in 1931 Los Angeles.

HBO shares the first look at Matthew Rhys in Perry Mason revival (https://tvline.com/2019/11/01/perry-mason-matthew-rhys-first-look-hbo-limited-series-photo/)

Rhys plays the iconic criminal defense attorney in the limited series set in 1931 Los Angeles. "2020's looking pretty good already," tweeted executive producer Robert Downey Jr (https://twitter.com/RobertDowneyJr/status/1190327643972915200).

CwURtbhpm60

I think that Perry Mason was based on a series of books or something, right? But when I hear the name all I can think of is Raymond Burr.

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HBO's Perry Mason is filled with great performances, but the story is a mess (https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-reviews/perry-mason-hbo-review-1011679/)

"The entirety of the HBO version (https://www.primetimer.com/shows/perry-mason-2020) feels like it was made by people — Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald as primary writers, with Tim Van Patten as lead director — who weren’t so much interested in Perry Mason as a character as they were in him as a familiar piece of intellectual property they could use as an excuse to tell a Thirties hard-boiled crime story," says Alan Sepinwall. "Which wouldn’t be a bad thing in and of itself, since the audience with a strong attachment to (Erle Stanley) Gardner’s books and/or (Raymond) Burr’s portrayal must be a very thin slice of HBO’s viewership in 2020. But Jones, Fitzgerald, and their collaborators have thrown out the classic formula for a muddle. This new Perry Mason is filled with great performances (albeit not all of them belonging on the same show). It looks incredible (though also occasionally much more gory than it needs to be). But the story’s a mess — at once convoluted and a bit too dull to fill eight hours — and the idea of giving Mason the origin story he never had ultimately proves more trouble than it’s worth."

Why make him private eye is there proof that character of Perry Mason did anything professionally other then being lawyer when was younger?