Aaron Sorkin and John Krasinski’s TV series about Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont Hotel has revived hopes of coming to life, according to a report from Deadline today. The publication says that the mini-series has been a hopeful project for the TV writing legend and The Office alum since 2011, but was put on the backburner. However, Krasinki told the publication that thanks to a new book about the hotel, the project is resurfacing at HBO.
“That is one of the projects that I’m very attached to, and it’s coming back around,” Krasinski told Deadline. “Aaron Sorkin and I were going to do it at HBO. We were taking our time with it, and then Aaron got busy with everything Aaron’s been busy with, and it just went slowly away.”
According to the report, the project is being reinvigorated thanks to an upcoming non-fiction book on the hotel, The Castle on the Sunset, written by Shawn Levy.
“Recently, the incredible author of Paul Newman’s biography, Shawn Levy, is writing a biography on the Chateau Marmont called The Castle on Sunset, so we just bought the rights to that book and we’re going to give it another shot,” Krasinski explained.
Krasinski, who now has his own share of writing cred thanks to his writing and directing the hit 2018 film A Quiet Place, also discussed how he sees the show’s vibe.
“I need to connect to stories with my heart, and so I wouldn’t want to make anything that was glitzy or salacious or anything like that. My idea was to do a [2001 British mystery film] Gosford Park-style upstairs-downstairs version of not only a hotel, but a hotel with secrets, with protection, with history,” he said.
The actor explained his interest in the hotel, saying that since its birth it has represented Hollywood history.
“It was built as an apartment building in the [1920s], and then when the great [stock market] crash [of 1929] happened, they turned it into a hotel to make money. In the ’40s, during World War II, there was a Japanese fighter plane seen around Santa Monica, and everyone ran into the basement of the Marmont because it was the only earthquake-proof basement at the time, so they thought it might also be bombproof,” he shared.
The Chateau Marmont, located at 8221 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, has been the site of various entertainment productions, including a scene in the musical hit La La Land (2016), the Sofia Coppola-directed film Somewhere (2010), and Oliver Stone’s Val Kilmer-starring flick The Doors (1991), as well as the topic of various songs, like Father John Misty’s “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins),” Grateful Dead’s “West L.A. Fadeaway” and Lily Allen’s “Trigger Bang”. On grimmer note, it was also where Saturday Night Live actor John Belushi was found dead in 1982.
However, Krasinski said he believes the hotel has impacted more than just Hollywood show business.
“These are stories that go much further beyond just Hollywood. My take on it is Hollywood is the inside of a snow globe, and the Chateau is the glass holding it all together,” he said.